NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Desert Sand Boa
Eryx miliaris (Pallas, 1773)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Eryx miliaris, known as the dwarf sand boa, desert sand boa, and if formally synonymised with Eryx tataricus, as Tartar sand boa, is a widely distributed, largely Asian species of snake of the Boidae (boa, Erycidae) family. On behalf of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), scientists assessed the populations of E. miliaris/tataricus across its range of habitats for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in April 2016, assigning them the status of "Least Concern".
The IUCN, the Reptile Database (RBD), and other contributing sources paint a relatively consistent picture of the distribution of these and other synonymous species, ranging from Iraq and Iran in the west, along the western shore of the Caspian Sea through all of central Asia, south into Afghanistan and Pakistan, and north and east into southern Russia, Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia in northern China.
The species may be the inspiration for a cryptid of legend, the Mongolian death worm.
Wikipedia contributors, Eryx miliaris; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:05:54.519811+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Eryx miliaris (Pallas, 1773)
- Name authority
- (Pallas, 1773)
- Common name
- Desert Sand Boa
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Boidae
- Genus
- Eryx
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyBoidae
- subfamilyErycinae
- genusEryx
- speciesEryx miliaris (Pallas, 1773)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Eryx. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Central Asia Sand BoaEryx elegans (Gray, 1849) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Javelin Sand BoaEryx jaculus (Linnaeus, 1758) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arabian Sand BoaEryx jayakari Boulenger, 1888 | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Brown Sand BoaEryx johnii (Russell, 1801) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Somali Sand BoaEryx somalicus Scortecci, 1939 | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Whitaker’s sand boaEryx whitakeri Das, 1991 | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eryx borrii Lanza & Nistri, 2005 | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sand BoaEryx colubrinus (Linnaeus, 1758) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Common Sand BoaEryx conicus (Schneider, 1801) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Müller’s sand boaEryx muelleri (Boulenger, 1892) | BoidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Eryx miliaris var. koslowi Bedriaga, 1906 Bedriaga, 1906 | synonym |
| Anguis helluo Pallas, 1814 Pallas, 1814 | synonym |
| Boa tatarica Lichtenstein, 1823 Lichtenstein, 1823 | synonym |
| Eryx tataricus Tzarevsky, 1915 Tzarevsky, 1915 | synonym |
| Eryx speciosus Tzarevsky, 1915 Tzarevsky, 1915 | synonym |
| Eryx miliaris incerta Tzarevsky, 1916 Tzarevsky, 1916 | synonym |
| Eryx miliaris rarus Tzarevsky, 1916 Tzarevsky, 1916 | synonym |
| Eryx richmersi Werner, 1930 Werner, 1930 | synonym |
| Eryx rickmersi Werner, 1930 Werner, 1930 | synonym |
| Anguis miliaris Pallas, 1773 Pallas, 1773 | synonym |
| Eryx miliaris var. roborowskii Bedriaga, 1906 Bedriaga, 1906 | synonym |
| Eryx miliaris tritus Tzarevsky, 1916 Tzarevsky, 1916 | synonym |
| Eryx tataricus bogdanovi Tzarevsky, 1916 Tzarevsky, 1916 | synonym |
| Eryx tataricus speciosus Tzarevsky, 1916 Tzarevsky, 1916 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Eryx&species=miliaris Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3BG9G. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.