Micrelapidae
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Micrelapidae
:''Common names: two-headed snakes.'' ''Micrelaps'' is a genus of rear-fanged mildly venomous snakes. It is the only genus in the family Micrelapidae. The genus is native to Africa and the Middle East, and there are four species that are recognized as being valid. Taxonomy Until very recently, this genus was classified in the family Atractaspididae. However, a phylogenomic study published in 2023 on the ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' journal has concluded that the genus should be re-classified into an autonomous family, apart from Atractaspididae, and thus created a new family called Micrelapidae, which constitutes a new Afro-Asian family of snakes. Description Species in the genus ''Micrelaps'' share the following characters: the maxilla is very short, with two teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large grooved fang situated below the eye. The mandibular teeth are longest anteriorly. The head is small, and is not distinct from the neck. The eye is minut ...
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Micrelaps Boettgeri
''Micrelaps boettgeri'', commonly known as Boettger's two-headed snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Micrelapidae. The species is endemic to Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''boettgeri'', is in honor of German herpetologist Oskar Boettger, author of the genus ''Micrelaps''. Geographic range Boettger's two-headed snake is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda. Description Dorsally, ''M. boettgeri'' is blackish brown, with each scale having a terminal round white spot. The head's upper surface and the neck's nape are black. The ventrals are edged with white. The type specimen, a female, is in total length, including the tail which is long. The dorsal scales are smooth, in 15 rows at the midbody (in 17 rows on the neck). The ventrals number 203-221; the anal plate is divided; the subcaudals number 22–23, also divided (in two rows). The portion of the rostral visible from above is as long as its distance from the fron ...
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Micrelaps Bicoloratus
''Micrelaps bicoloratus'', or the Kenya two-headed snake, is a species of mildly venomous opisthoglyphous (rear-fanged) snake in the family Micrelapidae. It is endemic to Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. .... References *Sternfeld, R. 1908. ''Neue und ungenügend bekannte afrikanische Schlangen''. Sitzber. Ber. Ges. naturf. Freunde Berlin 4:92-95. Atractaspididae Endemic fauna of Kenya Reptiles described in 1908 {{Alethinophidia-stub ...
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Oskar Boettger
Oskar Boettger (; 31 March 1844 – 25 September 1910) was a German zoologist who was a native of Frankfurt am Main. He was an uncle of the noted malacologist Caesar Rudolf Boettger (1888–1976). From 1863 to 1866 he studied at the Bergakademie Freiberg, then worked for a year in a chemical factory in Frankfurt am Main."Boettger, Oskar"
p. 410. In: (1955). ''Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 2''. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. . (in German).
In 1869 he received his doctorate from the University of Würzburg. The following year (1870), he became a paleontologist at the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, where in 1875 he became the curator of the museum's department of herpetology. He is credited for making Senckenberg's herpetological collection among the best in Europe. Boettger had agoraphobia and rarely left home, never setting fo ...
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Ventral Scales
In snakes, the ventral scales or gastrosteges are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that contacts the paraventral (lowermost) row of dorsal scales on either side. The anal scale is not counted.Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. . The term gastrostege (from Greek γαστήρ, γαστρός = belly and στέγη, στέγος = cover, roof) was more often used in the older literature, especially pre-1900 but is rarely used today. Related scales * Preventral scales * Anal scale * Subcaudal scales * Paraventral scales See also * Snake scale Snakes, like other reptiles, have skin covered in scales.Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India. p. 1 Snakes are entirely covered with scales or ...
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Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, the east and southeast, Jordan to Jordan–Syria border, the south, and Israel and Lebanon to Lebanon–Syria border, the southwest. It is a republic under Syrian transitional government, a transitional government and comprises Governorates of Syria, 14 governorates. Damascus is the capital and largest city. With a population of 25 million across an area of , it is the List of countries and dependencies by population, 57th-most populous and List of countries and dependencies by area, 87th-largest country. The name "Syria" historically referred to a Syria (region), wider region. The modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization. Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and ...
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Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the occupied Palestinian territories, within the broader geographic and historical Palestine (region), Palestine region. Palestine shares most of its borders with Israel, and it borders Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of while Demographics of the State of Palestine, its population exceeds five million people. Its Status of Jerusalem, proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its administrative center. Gaza City was its largest city prior to Gaza Strip evacuations, evacuations in 2023. Situated at a Levantine corridor, continental crossroad, the region of Palestine was ruled by various empires and experienced Demographic history of Palestine (region ...
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Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Israeli-occupied territories, It occupies the Occupied Palestinian territories, Palestinian territories of the West Bank in the east and the Gaza Strip in the south-west. Israel also has a small coastline on the Red Sea at its southernmost point, and part of the Dead Sea lies along its eastern border. Status of Jerusalem, Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Tel Aviv is the country's Gush Dan, largest urban area and Economy of Israel, economic center. Israel is located in a region known as the Land of Israel, synonymous with the Palestine (region), Palestine region, the Holy Land, and Canaan. In antiquity, it was home to the Canaanite civilisation followed by the History of ancient Israel and Judah, kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Situate ...
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Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region, lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied equatorial climate. , it has a population of 49.3 million, of whom 8.5 million live in the capital and largest city, Kampala. Uganda is named after the Buganda, Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south, including Kampala, and whose language Luganda is widely spoken; the official language is English. The region was populated by various ethnic groups, before Bantu and Nilotic groups arrived around 3,000 years ago. These groups established influential kingdoms such as the Empire of Kitara. The arrival of Arab trade ...
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of . , it has around 128 million inhabitants, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, thirteenth-most populous country in the world, the List of African countries by population, second-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populous landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African Plate, African and Somali Plate, Somali tectonic plates. Early modern human, Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithi ...
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Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the east. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of 18.1 million, of which 2.7 million live in the capital and largest city, Mogadishu. Around 85% of Somalia's residents are ethnic Somali people, Somalis. The official languages of the country are Somali language, Somali and Arabic, though Somali is the Languages of Somalia, primary language. Somalia has historic and religious ties to the Arab world. The people in Somalia are mainly Muslims, following the Sunni Islam, Sunni branch.. In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial center. During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including th ...
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Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's List of African countries by area, third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum, secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum. The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan ( 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture ( 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian ( 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture ( 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel ...
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