NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Ring-necked Spitting Cobra
Hemachatus haemachatus (Bonnaterre, 1790)
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.
Rinkhals close
ProfbergerLee R. Berger · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The rinkhals (; Hemachatus haemachatus), also known as the ringhals or ring-necked spitting cobra, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is found in parts of southern Africa. It is not a true cobra in that it does not belong to the genus Naja, but instead belongs to the monotypic genus Hemachatus. While rinkhals bear a great resemblance to true cobras, they also possess some remarkable differences from these, resulting in their placement outside the genus Naja.
In 2023, the Zimbabwe population was described as a new species, H. nyangensis.
Wikipedia contributors, Rinkhals; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:40:21.646200+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hemachatus haemachatus (Bonnaterre, 1790)
- Name authority
- (Bonnaterre, 1790)
- Common name
- Ring-necked Spitting Cobra
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Elapidae
- Genus
- Hemachatus
- 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
- familyElapidae
- genusHemachatus
- speciesHemachatus haemachatus (Bonnaterre, 1790)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hemachatus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Nyanga rinkhalsHemachatus nyangensis Reissig, Major, Renk, Barlow, Paijmans, Morris, Hofreiter, Broadley & Wüster, 2023 | ElapidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Naia capensis Smith, 1826 Smith, 1826 | synonym |
| Vipere haemachate Lacépède, 1789 Lacépède, 1789 | synonym |
| Coluber haemachates Bonnaterre, 1790 Bonnaterre, 1790 | 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=Hemachatus&species=haemachatus 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.
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:3KK82. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.