Atractaspis fallax PETERS, 1867

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Higher Taxa	Atractaspididae (Atractaspidinae), Elapoidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Eastern Small-scaled Burrowing Asp, Peters’ Burrowing Asp, Mole Viper
Synonym	Atractaspis fallax PETERS 1867: 890 Atractaspis microlepidota fallax — LAURENT 1950: 10 Atractaspis fallax — BAUER et al. 1995: 68 Atractaspis fallax — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 578 Atractaspis fallax — WALLACH et al. 2014: 66 Atractaspis fallax — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 475
Distribution	Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), NE Tanzania Type locality: “drei Tagesreisen entfernt von Kiriame [Giriama]” [Kenya], 3°49’S, 39°35’E, elevation 185 m
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: ZMB 5564 (C. von der Decken).
Diagnosis	Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material.
Comment	Venomous! Has been considered a subspecies of Atractaspis microlepidota by various authors. Status still unclear (see discussion in Largen & Rasmussen 1993). Not listed by WELCH 1994. Considered as a valid species by B. Hughes (pers. comm. to Van Wallach). Genome: Colston et al. 2025.
Etymology	A Latin adjective meaning ‘deceptive’ or ‘fallacious’ in the neutral nominative, with unclear justification.
References	Amir, O. G., & Mumin, D. H. 2026. CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF SOMALIA. Somali National Museum [no year given, but released online in 2026] - get paper here Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp. Colston, Timothy J., Stacy Pirro, and R. Alexander Pyron. 2025. The Complete Genome Sequences of 101 Species of Reptiles. Biodiversity Genomes, February - get paper here Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here Lanza, B. 1990. Amphibians and reptiles of the Somali Democratic Republic: check list and biogeography. Biogeographia, 14: 407-465 [1988] - get paper here Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp. Largen,M.J. & Rasmussen,J.B. 1993. Catalogue of the snakes of Ethiopia (Reptilia Serpentes), including identification keys. Tropical Zoology 6: 313-434 - get paper here Laurent, R.F. 1950. Revision du genre Atractaspis A. SMITH. Mem. Inst. Roy. nat. Belg. (2) 38: 1-49 Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1867. Eine vorläufige Übersicht der aus dem Nachlass des Baron Carl von der Decken Stammenden und auf seiner Ostafrikanischen Reise gesammelten Säugethiere und Amphibien. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1866 (December): 884-892 - get paper here Scortecci, G. 1929. Rettili dell'Eritrea esistenti nelle Collezioni del Museo Civico de Milano. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali, e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Milano 67 (3-4): 290-339 [1928] - get paper here Spawls, S., Branch, B. 2020. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Bloomsbury, London, 336 pp. - get paper here Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams, Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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