Polemon (genus)
Polemon is a genus of rear-fanged venomous snakes in the family Atractaspididae. The genus is endemic to Africa. Fifteen species are recognized as being valid.[1][2]
| Polemon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Polemon bocourti | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Lamprophiidae |
| Subfamily: | Aparallactinae |
| Genus: | Polemon Jan, 1858 |
| Synonyms | |
|
Miodon A.H.A. Duméril, 1859 | |
Miodon is a synonym. The mollusc genus of family Carditidae invalidly described by Carpenter in 1863 has been renamed Miodontiscus.
Common name
The common name of this genus is snake-eaters, for their habit of feeding mainly on smaller snakes.
Description
In the genus Polemon the maxillary is very short, with three small teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large, grooved fang situated anterior to the eye. The third and fourth mandibular teeth are large and fang-like. The head is small, and not distinct from neck. The eyes are minute, with round pupils. The nostrils are in a divided nasal which does not touch the rostral, the internasal forms a suture with the first upper labial. No loreal is present. The parietal is narrowly in contact with an upper labial.
The body is cylindrical, with a very short tail. Dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, and are arranged in 15 rows. The ventrals are rounded; the subcaudals are single (entire),[3] or double (divided).
Species
| Genus Polemon -- 13 species | ||||
| Species[1] | Taxon author[1] | Subspecies*[1] | Common name[2] | Geographic range[2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P. acanthias[4] | (J.T. Reinhardt, 1860) | ———— | Reinhardt's snake-eater | Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone. |
| P. ater | Portillo, Branch, Tilbury, Nagy, Hughes, Kusamba, Muninga, Aristote, Behangana & Greenbaum, 2019 | ———— | Black Snake-eater | Central Africa, East Africa. |
| P. barthii | Jan, 1858 | ———— | Guinea snake-eater | Guinea, Ivory Coast, Cameroon. |
| P. bocourti | Mocquard, 1897 | ———— | Bocourt's snake-eater | Cameroon, Río Muni, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). |
| P. christyi | (Boulenger, 1903) | ———— | eastern snake-eater | Dem. Rep. Congo, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia. |
| P. collaris | (W. Peters, 1881) | brevior longior |
collared snake-eater | Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Nigeria, Central African Republic. |
| P. fulvicollis | (Mocquard, 1887) | gracilis graueri laurenti |
African snake-eater | Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo, Uganda. |
| P. gabonensis | (A.H.A. Duméril, 1856) | schmidti | Gaboon snake-eater | Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Central African Republic. |
| P. gracilis | (Boulenger, 1911) | ———— | graceful snake-eater | South Cameroon. |
| P. graueri | (Sternfeld, 1908) | ———— | Grauer's snake-eater | Uganda, eastern Zaire. |
| P. griseiceps | (Laurent, 1947) | ———— | Cameroon snake-eater | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo. |
| P. leopoldi | (de Witte, 1941) | ———— | Rwanda. | |
| P. neuwiedi | (Jan, 1858) | ———— | Ivory Coast snake-eater | Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria. |
| P. notatus | (W. Peters, 1882) | aemulans | Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon. | |
| P. robustus | (de Witte & Laurent, 1943) | ———— | Zaire snake-eater | Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Central African Republic. |
* Not including the nominate subspecies.
See also
References
- "Polemon". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 September 2007.
- Polemon at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 5 May 2009.
- Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), Amblycephalidæ, and Viperidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus Polemon, p. 253).
- "A Cryptic New Species of Polemon (Squamata: Lamprophiidae, Aparallactinae) from the Miombo Woodlands of Central and East Africa". Novataxa. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
Further reading
- Jan [G] (1858). "Plan d'une Iconographie descriptive des Ophidiens et description sommaire de nouvelles espèces de Serpents ". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée, Paris, 2e Série 10: 438-449, 514-527. (Polemon, new genus, p. 520). (in French).