Polemon (genus)

Polemon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Atractaspididae
Genus: Polemon
Jan, 1858
Common names: snake-eaters.

Polemon is a genus of rear-fanged venomous snakes endemic to Africa. Thirteen species are recognized.[1]

Contents

Description (diagnosis) of genus

Maxillary very short, with three small teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large grooved fang situated anterior to the eye. Third and fourth mandibular teeth large, fang-like. Head small, not distinct from neck. Eye minute, with round pupil. Nostril in a divided nasal which does not touch the rostral, the internasal forming a suture with the first upper labial. No loreal. Parietal narrowly in contact with an upper labial. Body cylindrical; tail very short. Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, arranged in 15 rows. Ventrals rounded; subcaudals single (entire),[2] or double (divided).

Species

Genus Polemon -- 13 species
Species[1] Taxon author[1] Subspecies*[1] Common name[3] Geographic range[3]
P. acanthias (J.T. Reinhardt, 1860) ———— Reinhardt's snake-eater Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone.
P. barthii Jan, 1858 ———— Guinea snake-eater Guinea, Ivory Coast, Cameroon.
P. bocourti Mocquard, 1897 ———— Bocourt's snake-eater Cameroon, Rio Muni, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).
P. christyi (Boulenger, 1903) ———— eastern snake-eater Dem. Rep. Congo, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia.
P. collaris (Peters, 1881) brevior
longior		 collared snake-eater Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Nigeria, Central African Republic.
P. fulvicollis (Mocquard, 1887) gracilis
graueri
laurenti		 African snake-eater Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo, Uganda.
P. gabonensis (A.H.A. Duméril, 1856) schmidti Gaboon snake-eater Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Central African Republic.
P. gracilis (Boulenger, 1911) ———— graceful snake-eater South Cameroon.
P. griseiceps (Laurent, 1947) ———— Cameroon snake-eater Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo.
P. leopoldi (de Witte, 1941) ———— Rwanda.
P. neuwiedi (Jan, 1858) ———— Ivory Coast snake-eater Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria.
P. notatus (Peters, 1882) aemulans Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon.
P. robustus (de Witte & Laurent, 1943) ———— Zaire snake-eater Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Central African Republic.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Polemon". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=700188. Retrieved 5 September 2007. 
  2. ^ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., containg the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), Amblycephalidæ, and Viperidæ. Trustees of the British Museum. London. p. 253.
  3. ^ a b Polemon at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 5 May 2009.