Micrelaps boettgeri

Micrelaps boettgeri, commonly known as Boettger's two-headed snake, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake in the Atractaspididae family.[1] It is endemic to Africa.[2]

Micrelaps boettgeri
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Micrelaps
Species:
M. boettgeri
Binomial name
Micrelaps boettgeri
Boulenger, 1896

Etymology

The specific name, boettgeri, is in honor of German herpetologist Oskar Boettger, author of the genus Micrelaps.[3]

Geographic range

Boettger's two-headed snake is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda.[4]

Description

Dorsally, blackish brown, each scale with a terminal round white spot. Upper surface of head and nape of neck black. Ventrals edged with white.

The type specimen, a female, is 23.5 cm (9 1⁄4 in) in total length, including the tail which is 2 cm (3⁄4 in) long.

Dorsal scales smooth, in 15 rows at midbody (in 17 rows on neck). Ventrals 203-221; anal plate divided; subcaudals 22–23, also divided (in two rows).

Portion of rostral visible from above as long as its distance from the frontal. Internasals slightly broader than long, shorter than the prefrontals. Frontal small, 1½ times as long as broad, as long as its distance from the rostral, much shorter than the parietals. One postocular. Temporals 1+1. Seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye, fifth forming a suture with the parietal. Four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Two pairs of chin shields, the anterior pair and the posterior pair subequal in size.[5]

References
  1. "Micrelaps". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  2. Genus Micrelaps at The Reptile Database. Accessed 17 August 2007.
  3. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Micrelaps boettgeri, p. 29).
  4. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  5. Boulenger GA. 1896. A list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the late Prince Eugenio Ruspoli in Somaliland and Gallaland in 1893. Annali Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova, Giacomo Doria, Series 2, 17: 5-14.


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