Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
On a danish board there is a discussion about which species this is. Any experts on the Naja sp who can help out?

It was found in Sudan, Nuba Mountains.

Some belive Naja haje legionis, while others say Naja nigricollis. When captured the snake did not spit.

Definitely not nigricollis. The snake didn't spit, and the coloration and overall morphology just don't fit. The elongated, gradual hood is very indicative of haje, and based on the coloring, my assumption would be legionis. Beautiful snake though. Thanks for posting the pictures!
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Chance Duncan
www.rivervalleyexotics.com

Hi

Thank you for your reply.
The ID has been done by a scale count. It is Naja Haje sp

HI,

This snake IS DEFINITIVELY NOT a naja haje legionis because this sub-specie live only in Morroco, and I think personally this cobra is a very dark-colored naja nigricollis because the number of upper labials doesn't match with the egyptian cobra (this species has 6 and your snake has 7)

And please do not forget something: It's not because a rattlesnake has a rattle that mean it will always rattle......
So it's not because a spitting cobra can spit it's venom that mean it always do...........

Have a nice day
Pat

*LOL* there are a lot of discussion about this.
Some say Naja Haje ssp, others say Naja Nigricollis Nigricollis.
One person asked WW and he said Naja Haje, but agian even experts can be wrong, so I suppose we just have to agree that it is a Naja sp is a beautiful snake

>>*LOL* there are a lot of discussion about this.
>>Some say Naja Haje ssp, others say Naja Nigricollis Nigricollis.
>>One person asked WW and he said Naja Haje, but agian even experts can be wrong, so I suppose we just have to agree that it is a Naja sp is a beautiful snake

Sorry mate, but Naja haje is VERY easy to identify and differentiate from Naja nigricollis - all you need is to pick up a book and find the very obvious characters that will differentiate them.

The easiest thing to look for is the row of small scales separating the eye from the supralabials, which are plainly evident in the photos. This is absolutely characteristic of the Naja haje group (i.e., N. haje, N. annulifera, N. anchietae).

Other distinguishing characters from N. nigricollis, all equally visible on the posted photos, are the number of supralabials (seven in N. haje, as is plainly visible in the photos - sorry diadophis; six in N. nigricollis; the third very high in N. haje, touching both preocular and nasal scale, smaller, low and not touching nasal in N. nigricollis) and the number of preoculars (one in N. haje, as in the photo, two in N. nigricollis).

Behaviour would also be a fairly reasonable clue - it is not very easy to p*ss of a large N. nigricollis without getting spat at, although it is of course possible.

Cheers,

WW
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I know this becomming an old post but didn't noticed the reply of WW so i i'd just like to comment on this.

It was not intended to dicredit you or your expertise in any way.
On another forum a headshot of a Naja nigricollis was posted showing a scale count matching the one in question. But it may be possible the owner actually was wrong and his snake has been misidentified.

>>I know this becomming an old post but didn't noticed the reply of WW so i i'd just like to comment on this.
>>
>>It was not intended to dicredit you or your expertise in any way.
>>On another forum a headshot of a Naja nigricollis was posted showing a scale count matching the one in question. But it may be possible the owner actually was wrong and his snake has been misidentified.

No problem. If the post in the other forum showed a row of subocular scales, then it was DEFINITELY misidentified. This is not all that rare, you see quite a few misidentified cobras in the trade, although Naja nigricollis tend to kind of give things away by covering you you from head to toes in venom...

Cheers,

WW
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