Summary ⁷

The Green Whip Snake or Western Whip Snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) is a species of snake in the Colubridae family. There is a larger, often pure black variant found in Southern Italy and referred to there as 'Il Biacco'.

Range description ⁸

This species ranges from northeastern Spain; western, southern, eastern and northeastern France; and southern Switzerland, through most of Italy, to southwestern Slovenia and northern Croatia. It is present on the Mediterranean islands of Corsica (France), Sardinia, Sicily and most other Italian islands, Krk (Croatia), and Malta. The species may occur in Luxembourg, but this requires verification. The species is absent from Austria. It has also been translocated to the island of Gyaros (Greece) in the Aegean Sea where it was previously recognized as a distinct species Hierophis gyarosensis. It ranges from sea level up to 2,000m asl.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Marco Bertolini, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/shunkamanitotanka/6211757988/
2. (c) Marco Bertolini, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6113/6211757988_136cfcd91e.jpg
3. (c) Sarah Gregg, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3672/9608292564_90f859243c_o.jpg
4. (c) Wikimedia Commons, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Hierophis_viridiflavus01.jpg/460px-Hierophis_viridiflavus01.jpg
5. (c) Jean-Jacques MILAN 12:22, 16 June 2007 (UTC), some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Hierophis_viridiflavus.jpg/460px-Hierophis_viridiflavus.jpg
6. (c) Sarah Gregg, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2860/9608288492_fc838ce3e4_o.jpg
7. (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierophis_viridiflavus
8. (c) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://eol.org/data_objects/18813509

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• HerpMapper
• Snake Database
• The Reptile Database
• VertNet

Range Map

(c) Discover Life and original sources, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC-SA)

iNat Map