Published January 10, 2025
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TABLE 1 in What snake bit Philoctetes? A zoological commentary on the ancient Greek myth
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TABLE 1. — The snakes that Pierre Belon (1553) recorded on Lemnos Island according to his work Les observations de plusieurs singularitez & choses memorables, trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte,Arabie, & autres pays estranges, and their current taxonomic names.The species list is based onStrachinis & Roussos (2016).
| Pierre Belon’s names (16th century A. D.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Common (“vulgar”) name | Ancient name | Taxonomic name | Comments |
| Cenchriti(s) [ΚΕΧρίτης] | Cenchris [ΚΕΓΧρίς] | Malpolon insignitus Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827 | See in text: Fig. 3. Merle (2001) states that Cenchris is the Nore-horned viper, Vipera ammodytes but there is no viper species on Lemnos (see below). |
| Laphiati(s) [ΛαΦιάτης] | Elaphis [ἘλαΦίς] | (colubrid) Dolichophis caspius Gmelin, 1789 | Laphiatis (or Lafiatis) refers to Elaphe quatuorlineata but the species is not present on Lemnos (Strachinis & Roussos 2016). |
| Ochendra [ΌΧΕντρα] | Echis/Echidna [ἜΧις/ἜΧιδνα] | (viper?) Natrix natrix Linnaeus, 1758; Eryx jaculus Linnaeus, 1758 | There is no viper species on Lemnos; confused with Natrix natrix or Eryx jaculus because of the colouration (Strachinis & Roussos 2016). |
| Sagittari [Σαϊττάρι] | Iaculus/Acontias [Ἀκοντίας] | Platyceps najadum Eichwald, 1831 | See depiction of Saetta/Sagitta in Belon (1553: 88). |
| Tephliti(s)/Tephlotis [ΤΥΦλίτης/ΤΥΦλώτης] | Tiphlini(s) [ΤΥΦλίνης] | Pseudopus apodus Pallas, 1775 | Legless lizard but considered as a snake by Belon (1553). |
| Nerophid(i)a [ΝΕροΦίδα] | — | Natrix natrix | Nerophida (ΝΕροΦίδα) = Water-snake |
| Amphisbena [ΑΜΦίσβαινα] | Amphisbena [ἈΜΦίσβαινα] | Eryx jaculus | Amphisbaena (ΑΜΦίσβαινα) refers to worm lizards due to their tail that looks like a second head but here, Belon (1553) might refer to Eryx jaculus because of the same characteristic. |
Notes
Published as part of Danelis, Taxiarchis, 2025, What snake bit Philoctetes? A zoological commentary on the ancient Greek myth, pp. 5 in Anthropozoologica 60 (1) on page 5, DOI: 10.5252/anthropozoologica2025v60a1, http://zenodo.org/record/14633470
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- Is part of
- Journal article: 10.5252/anthropozoologica2025v60a1 (DOI)
- Journal article: urn:lsid:plazi.org:pub:FFACFFD9FFA29132FF81391C9342FFF9 (LSID)
- Journal article: http://zenodo.org/record/14633470 (URL)
- Journal article: http://publication.plazi.org/id/FFACFFD9FFA29132FF81391C9342FFF9 (URL)
References
- BELON P. 1553. - Les observations de plusieurs singularitez & choses memorables, trouvees en Grece, Asie, Judee, Egypte, Arabie, & autres pays estranges. G. Corrozet, Paris, 458 p.
- MERLE A. (ed.) 2001. - Voyage au Levant: les observations de Pierre Belon du Mans de plusieurs singularites & choses memorables, trouvees en Grece, Turquie, Judee, Egypte, Arabie & autres pays etranges (1553). Chandeigne, Paris, 608 p.
- STRACHINIS I. & ROUSSOS S. A. 2016. - Terrestrial herpetofauna of Limnos and Agios Efstratios (Northern Aegean, Greece), including new species records for Malpolon insignitus (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1827) and Pelobates syriacus Boettger, 1889. Herpetology Notes 9: 237 - 248.