Slender Quill-snouted Snake

About the Slender Quill-snouted Snake

Xenocalamus bicolor, also known commonly as the bicoloured quill-snouted snake and the slender quill-snouted snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Atractaspididae. The species is endemic to Africa. Four subspecies are recognized as being valid.

X. bicolor is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of South Africa, and Zimbabwe. The preferred natural habitat of X. bicolor is savanna, at altitudes of 900–1,400 m (3,000–4,600 ft).

X. bicolor exhibits the following characters: Black dorsally. White ventrally including the upper lip and the first two rows of dorsal scales on each side. Total length 43 cm (16+7⁄8 in); tail 3 cm (1+1⁄8 in). Dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, arranged in 17 rows. Ventrals 218; anal plate divided; subcaudals 24, also divided.

Portion of rostral visible from above nearly half as long as the frontal. Frontal extremely large, more than half as long as the shielded part of the head. Internasals large, forming a short median suture. Supraocular very narrow. One large elongate preocular, contacting the posterior nasal,... Wikipedia →