Malpolon monspessulanus
species of reptile
Malpolon monspessulanus, commonly known as the Montpellier snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake.
Geographic range
It is very common in Spain, Portugal and Northwest Africa, being also present in the southern Mediterranean coast of France and the western regions of the Middle East. The snake's specific name, monspessulanus, is a Latinized form of Montpellier, a city in southern France.
Description
It is up to 2.55 metres (8 ft) long and may weigh up to 2 kilograms (4 lb).
Behavior and diet
It is active during the day and mainly feeds on lizards.
Venom
Although it is venomous, only a few cases of envenomation of humans are known, one of which occurred when a finger was inserted into the snake's mouth. The Montpellier snake is not a dangerous snake for humans. The rear fangs reduce the possibility of venom injection, and the venom is of low toxicity. Venom injections are possible in bites of big individuals. The venom is not very dangerous; symptomatic treatment suffices to treat an envenomation.
“Malpolon monspessulanus” enters the record as species of reptile. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Malpolon, monspessulanus and species can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 28, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1324701. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Malpolon monspessulanus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.