''Aparallactus lineatus'', or the lined centipede-eater, is a species of
venomous
Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a ...
rear-fanged
snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...
in the family
Atractaspididae
The Atractaspididae (atractaspidids) are a family of venomous snakes found in Africa and the Middle East, commonly called mole vipers, stiletto snakes, or burrowing asps. Currently, 12 genera are recognized.
Description
This family includes man ...
.
Geographic range
It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to western
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. More specifically, it is found in
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west- central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; th ...
,
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...
,
Guinea, and
Liberia
Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...
.
Description
Dorsally it is olive, with three dark longitudinal lines, to which the
specific name, ''lineatus'', refers. Ventrally it is closely speckled with dark gray on the ventral and subcaudal scales.
Total length ; tail .
Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, in 15 rows. Ventrals 168; anal plate entire; subcaudals 41, entire.
Portion of rostral visible from above ⅓ as long as its distance from the frontal. A single prefrontal (very unusual), which forms a suture with the preocular. Frontal 1½ as long as broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals. Nasal entire, in contact with the preocular. One post ocular. A single temporal (most other species of ''Aparallactus'' have temporals 1+1). Seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye, fifth and sixth in contact with the parietal. First lower labial in contact with its fellow behind the mental. Two pairs of subequal chin shields, the anterior in contact with three lower labials.
[ Boulenger, G.A. 1896. ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III''. London. p. 261.]
References
*
Peters, W. 1870. ''Eine Mitteilung über neue Amphibien (...Uriechis...) des Königlich-zoologischen Museums. Monatsber. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. p. 643, plate i, figure 3.
Atractaspididae
Reptiles described in 1870
Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters
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