Egyptian cobra Egyptian cobra The Egyptian cobra ("Naja haje") is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. "Naja haje" is one of the largest cobra species native to Africa, second to the forest cobra ("Naja melanoleuca"). "Naja haje" was first described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The generic name "naja" is a Latinisation of the Sanskrit word ' () meaning "cobra". The specific epithet "haje" is derived from the Arabic word hayya" (حية"') which literally means "snake". The Egyptian cobra is one of the largest cobras of the African continent. The head is large and depressed and slightly
Snake high as in the Himalayan Mountains of Asia. There are numerous islands from which snakes are absent, such as Ireland, Iceland, and New Zealand (although New Zealand's waters are infrequently visited by the yellow-bellied sea snake and the banded sea krait). All modern snakes are grouped within the suborder Serpentes in Linnean taxonomy, part of the order Squamata, though their precise placement within squamates remains controversial. The two infraorders of Serpentes are: Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based on morphological characteristics and mitochondrial DNA sequence similarity. Alethinophidia is sometimes split into Henophidia and Caenophidia, with the latter consisting of