NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Egyptian Catsnake
Telescopus obtusus (Reuss, 1834)
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
Telescopus obtusus, commonly known as the Egyptian cat snake, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae.
The species is native to northern Africa, where it can be found in Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, northern Kenya, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, Chad, and Uganda.
The snake is mainly nocturnal and lives in deserts near vegetated areas.
Wikipedia contributors, Egyptian cat snake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:37:29.589660+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Telescopus obtusus (Reuss, 1834)
- Name authority
- (Reuss, 1834)
- Common name
- Egyptian Catsnake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Telescopus
- 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
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyColubrinae
- genusTelescopus
- speciesTelescopus obtusus (Reuss, 1834)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Telescopus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Telescopus hoogstraali Schmidt & Marx, 1956 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Beautiful Cat SnakeTelescopus pulcher (Scortecci, 1935) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Indian Desert Tiger SnakeTelescopus rhinopoma (Blanford, 1874) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Soosan Tiger SnakeTelescopus tessellatus (Wall, 1908) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Variable Cat SnakeTelescopus variegatus (Reinhardt, 1843) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus tripolitanus (Werner, 1909) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus wangariae Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Campbell, Calvo, Spawls, Vidal & Meiri, 2025 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Somali Cat SnakeTelescopus somalicus (Parker, 1949) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus salvadori Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Campbell, Calvo, Spawls, Vidal & Meiri, 2025 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus reussi Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Campbell, Calvo, Spawls, Vidal & Meiri, 2025 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus crocheti Ribeiro-Júnior, Koch, Flecks, Campbell, Calvo, Spawls, Vidal & Meiri, 2025 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Telescopus guentheri (Anderson, 1895) | ColubridaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Coluber obtusus Reuss, 1834 Reuss, 1834 | 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=Telescopus&species=obtusus 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:556CM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.