Micrelaps vaillanti (MOCQUARD, 1888)
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Micrelaps vaillanti
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| Higher Taxa | Atractaspididae (incertae sedis), Colubroidea, 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 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). Lepidosis. Snout index 0.4-1.0; internasal!prefrontal index 0.2-1.0; frontal! supraocular index 1.4-2.3. A loreal is present on the right side in a single specimen; postoculars invariably 1; temporals 1+1; supralabials 7, third and fourth, rarely fifth (type vaillanti) entering eye, fifth usually in contact with parietal; infralabials 7 (sometimes 6, rarely 8), 4 (rarely 3) on each side in contact with the anterior chin-shield; chin-shields in two pairs, the posterior ones usually in contact; preventrals 1-2. Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, in 15-15-15 rows. Scale row reduction formula (tail): 8(2-4) - 6(6-16) - 4(16-26) - 2(23-29) males (N = 16) 8(2-4) - 6(4-11) - 4(07-20) - 2(16-25) females (N = 18) Ventrals rounded, 170-224 in males, 195-253 in females; anal divided (entire in a single specimen); subcaudals in pairs, 23-30+1 in males, 18-25+1 in females (Rasmussen 2002). Boulenger (1896) notes that “This species [boettgeri] differs from M. vaillanti, Mocq., in the third and fourth labials only entering the eye, the fifth separating the postocular from the anterior temporal, the rostral more produced above, and in the higher number of ventral shields”. [ventrals 203-221]. |
| 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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