Micrelaps

Micrelaps
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Atractaspididae
Genus:	Micrelaps Boettger, 1880
Synonyms
Elaposchema Mocquard, 1888[1]

Common names: two-headed snakes.

Micrelaps is a genus of venomous rear-fanged Atractaspidid snakes found in Africa and the Middle East. Currently, five species are recognized.^[2]

Description

Maxillary very short, with two teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large grooved fang situated below the eye. Anterior mandibular teeth longest. Head small, not distinct from neck. Eye minute, with pupil round or vertically subelliptic. Nostril in a single nasal. No loreal. No preocular. Prefrontal entering the eye. Body cylindrical; tail short. Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, in 15 rows. Ventrals rounded; subcaudals in two rows.^[3]

Species

Genus Micrelaps -- 5 species
Species[2]	Taxon author[2]	Subsp.*[2]	Common name[4]	Geographic range[4]
M. bicoloratus	Sternfeld, 1908	moyeri	Kenya two-headed snake	Kenya.
M. boettgeri	Boulenger, 1896	————	Boettger's two-headed snake	Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda.
M. muelleriT	Boettger, 1880	————		Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon.
M. tchernovi	Y.L. Werner, Babocsay, Carmely & Thuna, 2006	————		Israel, Jordan.
M. vaillanti	(Mocquard, 1888)	————	Somali two-headed snake	Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

*) Not including the nominate subspecies. ^T) Type species.

Taxonomy

One new species, M. tchernovi, was described in 2006 by Y.L. Werner, Babocsay, Carmely and Thuna. The authors separate this species from M. muelleri, which, according to them, lives (in the southern Levant) in the mesic Mediterranean zone, whereas M. tchernovi inhabits the semi-arid Irano-Turanian zone in the Jordan Valley of Israel and Jordan. The type locality is the central Jordan Valley.^[4][5]

References

1. ^ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III. London. p. 248.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Micrelaps". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=700186. Retrieved 17 August 2007. 
3. ^ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III. London. p. 248.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Genus Micrelaps at The Reptile Database. Accessed 17 August 2007.
5. ^ Werner, Y. L., Babocsay, G., Carmely, H. & M. Thuna (2006): Micrelaps in the southern Levant: variation, sexual dimorphism, and a new species (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). - Zoology in the Middle East 38: p. 29-48. Abstract:

• Böttger, O. 1880. Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palaestina und Cypern. Ber. senckenb. naturf. Ges. 1880:136.