Naja nubiae - Nubian spitting cobra
Naja nubiae - Nubian spitting cobra
Wüster & Broadley (2003) described a new species of spitting cobra from northeastern Africa: Naja nubiae, the Nubian spitting cobra. The new species differs from its closest relative, Naja pallida, principally in having two or three (rather than one) dark bands across the throat and neck, and in having a pair of lateral spots either side of the light throat area. The new species has been recorded from the Nile Valley of southern Egypt and Sudan, as well as from Eritrea, western Sudan, northeastern Chad and Niger. Other remnant populations may occur in high-lying, slightly mesic regions of the Sahara. Previously, these snakes had been regarded as conspecific with Naja pallida. The implications of this discovery for the treatment of snakebites in the region remain unknown; research on the venom of the new species, and the extent to which existing antivenoms can neutralise it, is required.