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Atractaspis aterrima GÜNTHER, 1863

IUCN Red List - Atractaspis aterrima - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAtractaspididae (Atractaspidinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Mole Viper, Slender Burrowing Asp
G: Erdviper 
SynonymAtractaspis aterrima GÜNTHER 1863: 363
Atractaspis bibroni JAN 1859 (non SMITH 1849)
Atractaspis bibroni — SCHMIDT 1923: 139 (fide LAURENT 1950)
Atractaspis aterrima — SCHMIDT 1923: 139
Atractaspis rostrata BARBOUR & LOVERIDGE 1928 (part.)
Atractaspis aterrima — WELCH 1994: 21
Atractaspis aterrima — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 23
Atractaspis aterrima — TRAPE & MANÉ 2002
Atractaspis aterrima — WALLACH et al. 2014: 62
Atractaspis aterrima — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 472 
DistributionSenegal, Gambia, S Mali, S Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, N Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire: Province Orientale), Uganda, Tanzania, Mali, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Chad

Type locality: “West Africa”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.20.87 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A West, Central and East African form of Atractaspis with the following character combination: rostral rounded; frontal almost as broad as long, shorter than parietals; five upper labials (the single anterior temporal may rarely reach the mouth to form a sixth labial); five (rarely four or sometimes six) lower labials, third being the largest one; anterior chin-shields not fused with second infralabial; mid-body scale rows 1-23, ventrals 23-288 and 257-2, male and female, respectively; cloacal undivided; caudal scutes single, 20-26 and 17-23, male and female, respectively; venter dark [from RASMUSSEN 2005].


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CommentVenomous!

The description by SCHMIDT (123) is available online (see URL below).

Distribution: Not in Gabon fide PAUWELS & VANDE WEGHE 2008. Not in Rwanda and Burundi (but in N Gabon) fide DAVID & VOGEL 2007. Map in DAVID & VOGEL 2007. Not in Liberia fide Senter & Chippaux 2022. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin aterrima = "black or dark colored". 
References
  • Barnett, Linda K. & Emms, Craig 2005. Common reptiles of The Gambia. Rare Repro, Hailsham, East Sussex, 24 pp.
  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • Chifundera, K. 1990. Snakes of Zaire and their bites. Afr. Stud. Monogr. (Kyoto) 10(3): 137-157.
  • Chippaux, Jean-Philippe & Kate Jackson 2019. Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, 448 pp. [detaileld review in HR 51 (1): 161] - get paper here
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • dos Reis-Silva F, Alves-Martins F, Martínez-Arribas J, Pizzigalli C, Seck S, Rainho A, Rocha R, Palmeirim AF 2025. Amphibian and reptile dataset across different land-use types in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e147388 - get paper here
  • Günther. A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 348 - 365 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • Laurent, R.F. 1950. Revision du genre Atractaspis A. SMITH. Mem. Inst. Roy. nat. Belg. (2) 38: 1-49
  • Lyakurwa, J.V., Howell, K.M., Munishi, L.K., Treydte, A.C. 2019. Uzungwa Scarp Nature Forest Reserve; a unique hotspot for reptiles in Tanzania. Acta Herpetologica 14 (1): 3-14 - get paper here
  • Menzies, J.I. 1966. The snakes of Sierra Leone. Copeia 1966 (2): 169-179. - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O. & Meirte,D. 1996. Contribution to the knowledge of the Gambian herpetofauna. British Herpetological Society Bulletin (56): 27-34 - get paper here
  • Perret, J.L. 1961. Études herpétologiques africaines III. 1. La faune ophidienne de la région camerounaise. Bull. Soc. neuchâtel. Sci. nat., 84: 133-138
  • Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
  • Rasmussen, J.B. 2005. A review of the Slender stiletto-snake, Atractaspis aterrima Gunther 1863 (Serpentes Atractaspididae). Tropical Zoology 18 (1): 137-148. - get paper here
  • Rödel M, Kucharzewski C, Mahlow K, Chirio L, Pauwels OSG, Carlino P, Sambolah G, Glos J 2019. A new stiletto snake (Lamprophiidae, Atractaspidinae, Atractaspis) from Liberia and Guinea, West Africa. Zoosystematics and Evolution 95(1): 107-123 - get paper here
  • Segniagbeto GLazcano. H., Trape J. F., David P., Ohler A., Dubois A. & Glitho I. A. 2011. The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems. Zoosystema 33 (3): 325-360. DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4 - get paper here
  • Segniagbeto, G. H., Dekawole, J. K., Ayoro, J. H., Ketoh, G. K., Sinsin, B., Dendi, D., & Luiselli, L. 2024. SPECIES RICHNESS AND VARIATION IN THE COMMUNITY COMPOSITION OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN FOUR SITES OF THE DAHOMEY GAP IN BENIN, WEST AFRICA. European Journal of Ecology, 10, 49-62 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S., Branch, B. 2020. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Bloomsbury, London, 336 pp. - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - 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
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2002. Les serpents du Sénégal: liste commentée des espèces. Bull. Soc. Pathol. Exot. 95 (3): 148-150
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2004. Les serpents des environs de Bandafassi (Sénégal oriental). Bull. Soc. Herp. France 109: 5-34 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp. - get paper here
  • TRAPE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS & CELLOU BALDÉ 2014. A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa 3900 (3): 301–338 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François; Israël Demba Kodindo, Ali Sougoudi Djiddi, Joseph Mad-Toïngué & Clément Hinzoumbé Kerah 2020. The snakes of Chad: results of a field survey and annotated country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 69 (2): 367–393 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François & Youssouph Mané 2017. The snakes of Mali. Bonn zoological Bulletin 66 (2): 107–133 - 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.
 
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