| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Black-headed smooth snake |
| Synonym | Coronella plumbiceps BOETTGER 1893: 117
Coronella somalica SCORTECCI 1932: 46
Meizodon loveridgei BOGERT 1940: 49
Meizodon somalicus — BOGERT 1940: 49
Coluber citernii LOVERIDGE 1955: 7 (non Zamenis citernii BOULENGER 1912)
Meizodon semiornatus plumbeiceps (sic) — LOVERIDGE 1957: 258
Coronella somalica — CORKILL & COCHRANE 1966
Meizodon plumbiceps — SCHÄTTI 1985: 162
Meizodon plumbiceps — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 498
Meizodon plumbiceps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 435
Meizodon plumbiceps — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 481
Meizodon plumbiceps — SPAWLS et al. 2023: 484 |
| Distribution | E Ethiopia, S Somalia, NE Kenya, Arabian peninsula ?
Type locality: Ogadeen, Somaliland.
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| Reproduction | ovoviviparous |
| Types | Holotype: SMF 62453 (orig. ZMUZ), a 576 mm male (C. Keller, 1892).
Holotype: MSNM (Milano) [somalica] |
| Diagnosis | Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 3759 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: mostly after Schätti 1985.
Has been considered as a race of Meizodon semiornatus. Not listed in Spawls 1978. |
| Etymology | Named after plumbum” = lead, and Latin caput, -ceps = head, likely after the dark lead-colored head. |
| References |
- Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here
- Boettger,O. 1893. Übersicht der von Prof. C. Keller anlässlich der Ruspoli'schen Expedition nach den Somaliländern gesammelten Reptilien und Batrachier. Zool. Anz. 16 (416): 113-119 - get paper here
- Bogert,C.M. 1940. Herpetological results of the Vernay Angola Expedition. I. Snakes, including an arrangement of the African Colubridae. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 77: 1-107 - get paper here
- Corkill, N. L. and Cochrane, J. A. 1966. The snakes of the Arabian Peninsula and Socotra. J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 62 (3): 475-506 (1965) - 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
- Schätti B 1985. Systematics of east African species of Meizodon Fischer, 1856 (Reptilia, Serpentes, Colubridae). Monitore Zoologico Italiano suppl. 20: 149-175 - get paper here
- Scortecci, G. 1932. Rettili dello Yemen. Atti soc. Ital. Sci.Nat. 71: 39-49 - get paper here
- Scortecci,G. 1932. Descrizione preliminare di un nuovo ofidio ed un anfibio della Somalia italiana. Atti Soc. ital. Sci. nat. 71: 58-60
- 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
- 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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