NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Four-lined snake (or ratsnake)
Elaphe quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789)
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.
Four-lined Snake (Elaphe quatuorlineata)
Carlo Catoni · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Elaphe quatuorlineata (common names: four-lined snake, Bulgarian ratsnake) is a member of the family Colubridae. The four-lined snake is a non-venomous species and one of the largest of the European snakes.
Wikipedia contributors, Four-lined snake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T13:00:52.083645+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Elaphe quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789)
- Name authority
- (Lacépède, 1789)
- Common name
- Four-lined snake (or ratsnake)
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Elaphe
- 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
- genusElaphe
- speciesElaphe quatuorlineata (Lacépède, 1789)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Elaphe. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Elaphe climacophora (Boie, 1826) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Steppes RatsnakesElaphe dione (Pallas, 1773) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japanese Four-lined RatsnakeElaphe quadrivirgata (Boie, 1826) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Amur RatsnakesElaphe schrenckii Strauch, 1873 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Zoige RatsnakeElaphe zoigeensis Huang, Ding, Burbrink, Yang, Huang, Ling, Chen & Zhang, 2012 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Blade-teethed Rat SnakeElaphe xiphodonta Qi, Shi, Ma, Gao, Bu, Grismer, LI & Wang, 2021 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Elaphe anomala (Boulenger, 1916) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chinese Leopard SnakeElaphe bimaculata Schmidt, 1925 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Taiwan Stink SnakeElaphe carinata (Günther, 1864) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pere David's Rat SnakeElaphe davidi (Sauvage, 1884) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Blotched rat snakeElaphe sauromates (Pallas, 1811) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Elaphis cervone Schreiber, 1875 Schreiber, 1875 | synonym |
| Coluber pictus Pallas, 1811 Pallas, 1811 | ambiguous synonym |
| Coluber quadristriatus Donndorf, 1798 Donndorf, 1798 | synonym |
| Elaphe quatuorlineata preamatura Werner, 1935 Werner, 1935 | synonym |
| Elaphe quatuorlineata muenteri Bedriaga, 1882 Bedriaga, 1882 | ambiguous synonym |
| Elaphis sauromates var. munteri Bedriaga, 1882 Bedriaga, 1882 | synonym |
| Elaphe quatuorlineata rechingeri Werner, 1932 Werner, 1932 | synonym |
| Coluber alpestris Ménétries, 1832 Ménétries, 1832 | synonym |
| Elaphis sauromates var. graeca Bedriaga Bedriaga | synonym |
| Coluber nauii Donndorf, 1798 Donndorf, 1798 | synonym |
| Coluber quaterradiatus Gmelin, 1799 Gmelin, 1799 | synonym |
| Coluber poecilocephalus Fisch. De Waldh., 1832 Fisch. De Waldh., 1832 | synonym |
| Coluber quatuor-lineatus Lacépède, 1789 Lacépède, 1789 | synonym |
| Coluber quatuorlineatus Lacepede, 1789 Lacepede, 1789 | 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=Elaphe&species=quatuorlineata 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:6DZBH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.