Micrelaps
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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.
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. ==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 minute, and the pupil is round or vertically subelliptic. The nostril is pierced in a single nasal scale. There is no loreal scale. There are no preocular scales, the prefrontal entering the eye. The body is cylindrical, and the tail is short. The dorsal scales are smooth, without pits, and are in 15 rows at midbody. The ventral scales are rounded. The subcaudal scales are in two rows. ==Species== ) Not including the nominate subspecies T ) Type species ==References== ==Further reading== Böttger O (1880). "Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palaestina und Cypern ". Berichte über die Senckenbergische naturforschender Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main 1880: 132–219. (Micrelaps, new genus, p. 136). (in German and Latin).
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