Walterinnesia is a genus of venomous elapid snake, also known as the Desert Black Snake or Desert Cobra. It was long considered to be the only species within the genus Walterinnesia. However, it was recently found that the eastern populations actually represent a different species, W. morgani. W. aegyptia is entirely black in color, and has highly shiny scales. W. morgani differs in having a juvenile pattern of reddish crossbars on the back, and lower average ventral and subcaudal scale counts.