Walterinnesia aegyptia

Description

Walterinnesia is a genus of venomous snakes in the family Elapidae. The genus contains two species, known commonly as desert black snakes or black desert cobras, which are endemic to the Middle East. Walterinnesia aegyptia was long considered to be the only species within the genus. However, it was recently found that the eastern populations actually represent a different species, Walterinnesia morgani. W. aegyptia is entirely black in color, and has highly shiny scales. W. morgani differs in having a juvenile pattern of reddish crossbars on the back, and lower average ventral and subcaudal scale counts.