Aparallactus werneri
Aparallactus werneri, or the Usambara centipede-eater, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Atractaspididae.[1]
| Aparallactus werneri | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Lamprophiidae |
| Genus: | Aparallactus |
| Species: | A. werneri |
| Binomial name | |
| Aparallactus werneri Boulenger, 1895 | |
Etymology
The specific name, werneri, is in honor of Austrian herpetologist Franz Werner, from whom Boulenger obtained the type series of specimens.[2][3][4]
Geographic range
A. werneri is endemic to Africa and is found in Eastern Tanzania in Usambara and the Uluguru Mountains.[5]
Description
Dorsally, A. werneri is blackish with a deep black, light-edged nuchal collar. The upper lip is blackish below the eye, and yellowish in front of and behind the eye. Ventrally it is uniformly yellowish.
It may attain 39 cm (15 3⁄8 in) in total length, with a tail 6.5 cm (2 1⁄2 in) long.
The dorsal scales are smooth, without pits, and are arranged in 15 rows. Ventrals 147-160; anal plate entire; subcaudals 32–41, also entire.
Portion of rostral visible from above nearly half as long as its distance from the frontal. Internasals much shorter than the prefrontals. Frontal one and a half times as long as broad, longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals. Nasal entire, in contact with the preocular. Two postoculars, in contact with the anterior temporal. Temporals 1+1. Six upper labials, second and third entering the eye. First lower labial in contact with its fellow behind the mental. Three lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Two pairs of chin shields, the anterior pair broader and slightly longer than the posterior pair.[2]
References
- "Aparallactus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Aparallactus werneri, p. 257 + Plate XI, figure 1).
- Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I. ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (sources of specimens, p. vi).
- Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Aparallactus werneri, p. 282).
- "Aparallactus werneri ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org
Further reading
- Boulenger GA (1895). "Descriptions of two new snakes from Usambara, German East Africa". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Sixth Series 16: 171–173. (Aparallactus werneri, new species, p. 172).