Micrelaps
| Micrelaps | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Atractaspididae |
| Genus: | Micrelaps Boettger, 1880 |
| Synonyms | |
- Common names: two-headed snakes.
Micrelaps is a genus of venomous rear-fanged Atractaspidid snakes found in Africa and the Middle East. Currently, five species are recognized.[2]
Description
Maxillary very short, with two teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large grooved fang situated below the eye. Anterior mandibular teeth longest. Head small, not distinct from neck. Eye minute, with pupil round or vertically subelliptic. Nostril in a single nasal. No loreal. No preocular. Prefrontal entering the eye. Body cylindrical; tail short. Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, in 15 rows. Ventrals rounded; subcaudals in two rows.[1]
Species
| Genus Micrelaps -- 5 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. muelleriT | Boettger, 1880 | ———— | Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon. | |
| M. tchernovi | Y.L. Werner, Babocsay, Carmely & Thuna, 2006 | ———— | Israel, Jordan. | |
| M. vaillanti | (Mocquard, 1888) | ———— | Somali two-headed snake | Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. |
*) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type species.
Taxonomy
One new species, M. tchernovi, was described in 2006 by Y.L. Werner, Babocsay, Carmely and Thuna. The authors separate this species from M. muelleri, which, according to them, lives (in the southern Levant) in the mesic Mediterranean zone, whereas M. tchernovi inhabits the semi-arid Irano-Turanian zone in the Jordan Valley of Israel and Jordan. The type locality is the central Jordan Valley.[3][4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III. London. p. 248.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Micrelaps". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Genus Micrelaps at The Reptile Database. Accessed 17 August 2007.
- ↑ Werner, Y. L., Babocsay, G., Carmely, H. & M. Thuna (2006): Micrelaps in the southern Levant: variation, sexual dimorphism, and a new species (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). - Zoology in the Middle East 38: p. 29-48. Abstract:
- Böttger, O. 1880. Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palaestina und Cypern. Ber. senckenb. naturf. Ges. 1880:136.