''Inyoka'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

n snakes. The word "inyoka" means "

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

" in Zulu,

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language officially used in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes. * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa. * Swahili culture, the culture of the Swahili p ...

Shona Shona often refers to: * Shona people, a Southern African people ** Shona language, a Bantu language spoken by Shona people today ** Shona languages, a wider group of languages defined in the early 20th century ** Kingdom of Zimbabwe, a Shona stat ...

and other African languages. These snakes were previously grouped in the genus '' Lamprophis'' but were found to be closer related to '' Hormonotus''; a substantial genetic divergence between them and a 1900 km gap between their geographic ranges meant a new genus was erected for ''Lamprophis swazicus'', the sole species of the new genus.

Species

''Inyoka swazicus'' is commonly known as the Swazi rock snake or Swaziland house snake. It is found in the eastern

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and in

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

. It inhabits rocky outcrops in

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

at altitudes of

asl American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expressed by employ ...

. Although listed as a " Lower Risk/Near Threatened" species by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

(IUCN), it is only considered of "Least Concern" in the South African Conservation Assessment of Reptiles in view of its relatively wide distribution and low level of anthropogenic disturbance in its habitat. ''Inyoka swazicus'' can grow to a maximum total length of . The head is small, dorso-ventrally flattened, and broader than neck and distinct from it. Eyes are large, protruding, and with vertically elliptical pupil. They are non-venomous.Kelly, C.M.R., et al. Molecular systematics of the African snake family ''Lamprophiidae'', Fitzinger, 1843 (''Serpentes'': ''Elapoidea''), with particular focus on the genera ''Lamprophis'', Fitzinger 1843 and ''Mehelya'', Csiki 1903. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (2010),

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3014383 Lamprophiidae Monotypic snake genera Reptiles of South Africa Reptiles of Eswatini Reptiles described in 1970 Taxa named by William Roy Branch