Micrelaps vaillanti (MOCQUARD, 1888)
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Micrelaps vaillanti
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| Higher Taxa | Micrelapidae, Elapoidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Black-headed Micrelaps, Somali Two-headed Snake |
| Synonym | Elaposchema vaillanti MOCQUARD 1888: 123 Calamelaps vaillanti — BOETTGER 1893: 117 Micrelaps vaillanti — BOULENGER 1896: 249 Micrelaps boettgeri BOULENGER 1896: 13 Rhinocalamus meleagris STERNFELD 1908: 244 Micrelaps nigriceps STERNFELD 1910 Rhinocalamus meleagris — ANGEL 1925 Micrelaps boettgeri — SCORTECCI 1929: 278 Micrelaps vaillanti — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947 Micrelaps boettgeri — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947 Micrelaps boettgeri — LOVERIDGE 1955 Micrelaps boettgeri — LOVERIDGE 1955 Micrelaps boettgeri — LANZA 1983 Micrelaps boettgeri — LANZA 1983 Micrelaps boettgeri — LARGEN & RASMUSSEN 1993 Micrelaps boettgeri — SPAWLS et al. 2002: 436 Micrelaps boettgeri — RASMUSSEN 2002 Micrelaps vaillanti — RASMUSSEN 2002 Micrelaps vaillanti — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 586 Micrelaps vaillanti — WALLACH et al. 2014: 438 Micrelaps vaillanti — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 459 |
| Distribution | Somalia, E Ethiopia, Kenya, N Tanzania, Chad Type locality: S Somalia boettgeri: E Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda; Type locality: “Dolo” |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MNHN-RA 1884.0696 Holotype: MSNG 29058, a 235 mm female (E. Ruspoli, 1893) [boettgeri] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Dorsum brown or greyish, each scale usually with a central or apical pale spot, two lower rows of dorsals usually entirely pale; upper surface of head and neck dark brown or black, sometimes separated by a pale collar in juveniles. First pair of infralabials in contact behind mental. Posterior pair of chin-shields usually in contact. Fifth supralabial often in contact with parietal (Rasmussen 2002). |
| Comment | Venomous! Synonymy: Micrelaps boettgeri BOULENGER 1896 is synonymous to M. vaillanti according to RASMUSSEN (2002). BOULENGER (1888: 13) noted in the Zoological Record that the genus Elaposchema is synonymous to Calamelaps. |
| Etymology | Micrelaps vaillanti was named after Leon Louis Vaillant (1834-1914), a French zoologist, herpetologist, ichthyologist, and malacologist at Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris. He was on several French naval expeditions (1880-1883). M. boettgeri was named after Oskar Boettger (1844-1910), herpetologist at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt am Main. |
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