Xenocalamus mechowii
| Xenocalamus mechowii | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Atractaspididae |
| Genus: | Xenocalamus |
| Species: | X. mechowii |
| Binomial name | |
| Xenocalamus mechowii W. Peters, 1881 | |
Xenocalamus mechowii, or the elongate quill-snouted snake, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Atractaspididae.[1] The species is endemic to Africa.[2]
Etymology
The specific name or epithet, mechowii, is in honor of Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow, a Silesian-German explorer of Africa.[3]
Geographic range
It is found in Angola, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[4]
Description
Dorsally yellowish with brown spots. Some spots arranged in alternating confluent pairs, others forming crossbands. Upper lip, sides of body, and ventrum unspotted.
A subadult 22.5 cm (8 3⁄4 in) in total length has a tail 3.5 cm (1 3⁄8 in) long.
Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, arranged in 17 rows. Ventrals 229-239; anal plate divided; subcaudals 31-36, also divided.
Head scalation same as Xenocalamus bicolor, except no supraoculars and two postoculars.[5]
Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized including the nominate race.
- Xenocalamus mechowii inornatus de Witte & Laurent, 1947
- Xenocalamus mechowii mechowii Peters, 1881[4]
Intergrades of these two subspecies can be found in North-Western Province, Zambia.[6]
Footnotes
- ↑ "Xenocalamus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
- ↑ Xenocalamus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 May 2009.
- ↑ 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. (Xenocalamus mechowi, p. 174).
- 1 2 "Xenocalamus mechowii ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- ↑ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), Amblycephalidæ, and Viperidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. ("Xenocalamus mechovii [sic]", p. 248).
- ↑ Broadley, D.G. 1971. "A revision of the African snake genera Amblyodipsas and Xenocalamus ". Occ. Pap. Natl. Mus. Rhodesia B4 (33): 629-697.
References
- Peters, W.C.H. 1881. "Zwei neue von Herrn Major von Mechow während seiner letzten Expedition nach West-Afrika entdeckte Schlangen und eine Übersicht der von ihn mitgebrachten herpetologischen Sammlung ". Sitzunsber. Ges. naturf. Freunde Berlin 1881 (9): 147-150. (Xenocalamus mechowii, new species, p. 147). (in German).
- de Witte, G.F., & R.F. Laurent. 1947. "Revision d'un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus, et formes affines ". Mém. Mus. Roy. Hist. Nat. Belgique (sér. 2) 29: 1-134. (Xenocalamus mechowii inornatus, new subspecies, p. 51). (in French).