Black-headed Micrelaps

About the Black-headed Micrelaps

Micrelaps vaillanti, also known commonly as the black-headed micrelaps or the Somali two-headed snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Micrelapidae. The species is endemic to Africa. The specific name, vaillanti, is in honor of French herpetologist Léon Vaillant.

M. vaillanti is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The preferred natural habitats of M. vaillanti are shrubland and savanna, at altitudes from sea level to 1,800 m (5,900 ft). M. vaillanti is brown dorsally, with the center of each dorsal scale grayish white. The ventrals are brown in the middle, and whitish on the sides.

Adults may attain a total length of 28.2 cm (11 in), with a tail 32 mm (1+1⁄4 in) long. The dorsal scales are smooth, without pits, and are arranged in 15 rows at midbody (in 17 rows on the neck). The ventrals number 171–203. The anal plate is divided, and the subcaudals are also divided.

The head is very flattened. The rostral is large, twice as broad as deep, the portion visible from above about 2⁄3 as long as its distance from the frontal. The internasals are twice... Wikipedia →