Micrelaps
Micrelaps is a genus of rear-fanged venomous snakes in the family Lamprophiidae. The genus is native to Africa and the Middle East. There are 4 species that are recognized as being valid.[2]
| Micrelaps | |
|---|---|
.jpg.webp) | |
| Micrelaps muelleri | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Lamprophiidae |
| Subfamily: | Aparallactinae |
| Genus: | Micrelaps Boettger, 1880 |
| Synonyms | |
- Common names: two-headed snakes.
Description
Species in the genus Micrelaps share the following characters. The maxilla is very short, with two teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large grooved fang situated below the eye. The mandibular teeth are longest anteriorly. The head is small, and is not distinct from the neck. The eye is minute, and the pupil is round or vertically subelliptic. The nostril is pierced in a single nasal scale. There is no loreal scale. There are no preocular scales, the prefrontal entering the eye. The body is cylindrical, and the tail is short. The dorsal scales are smooth, without pits, and are in 15 rows at midbody. The ventral scales are rounded. The subcaudal scales are in two rows.[1]
Species
| Genus Micrelaps - five species | ||||
| Species[2] | Taxon author[2] | Subsp.*[2] | Common name[3] | Geographic range[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. bicoloratus | Sternfeld, 1908 | moyeri | Kenya two-headed snake | Kenya |
| M. boettgeri | Boulenger, 1896 | ———— | Boettger's two-headed snake | Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda |
| M. muelleri | Boettger, 1880 | ———— | Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon | |
| M. vaillanti | (Mocquard, 1888) | ———— | Somali two-headed snake | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda |
*) Not including the nominate subspecies T) Type species
References
- Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Genus Micrelaps, p. 248).
- "Micrelaps". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- Genus Micrelaps at The Reptile Database. Accessed 17 August 2007.
Further reading
- Böttger O (1880). "Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palaestina und Cypern ". Berichte über die Senckenbergische naturforschender Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main 1880: 132–219. (Micrelaps, new genus, p. 136). (in German and Latin).