Xenocalamus mechowii

Xenocalamus mechowii, or the elongate quill-snouted snake, is a species of venomous rear-fanged snake in the subfamily Aparallactinae of the family Lamprophiidae.[1] The species is endemic to Africa.[2]

Xenocalamus mechowii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Xenocalamus
Species:
X. mechowii
Binomial name
Xenocalamus mechowii
W. Peters, 1881

Etymology

The specific name or epithet, mechowii, is in honor of Friedrich Wilhelm Alexander von Mechow, a Silesian-German explorer of Africa.[3]

Geographic range

X. mechowii is found in Angola, Botswana, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.[2]

Habitat

The preferred habitat of X. mechowii is Kalahari sand.[4]

Description

Dorsally, X. mechowii is yellowish with brown spots, some spots arranged in alternating confluent pairs, others forming crossbands. The upper lip, sides of the body, and venter are unspotted.[5]

A subadult 22.5 cm (8 3⁄4 in) in total length has a tail 3.5 cm (1 3⁄8 in) long.[5]

The species exhibits sexual dimorphism. Adult males may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 58 cm (23 in). Females are larger, and may attain 80 cm (31 in) SVL.[4]

The dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, arranged in 17 rows. The ventrals number 229-239. The anal plate is divided, and the subcaudals which number 31-36 are also divided.[5]

The head scalation is the same as Xenocalamus bicolor, except there are no supraoculars and two postoculars.[5]

The snout is very depressed and very prominent.[4]

Diet

X. mechowii preys on amphisbaenians, which it finds by burrowing.[4]

Reproduction

X. mechowii is oviparous. An adult female may lay a clutch of as many as four eggs.[4]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized including the nominate race.

Intergrades of these two subspecies can be found in North-Western Province, Zambia.[6]

Footnotes
  1. "Xenocalamus ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  2. Xenocalamus mechowii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 12 May 2009.
  3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Xenocalamus mechowi, p. 174).
  4. Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Xenocalamus mechowii, p. 69).
  5. Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), Amblycephalidæ, and Viperidæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. ("Xenocalamus mechovii [sic]", p. 248).
  6. Broadley DG (1971). "A revision of the African snake genera Amblyodipsas and Xenocalamus ". Occ. Pap. Natl. Mus. Rhodesia B4 (33): 629-697.

References
  • Peters WCH (1881). "Zwei neue von Herrn Major von Mechow während seiner letzten Expedition nach West-Afrika entdeckte Schlangen und eine Übersicht der von ihn mitgebrachten herpetologischen Sammlung ". Sitzunsber. Ges. naturf. Freunde Berlin 1881 (9): 147-150. (Xenocalamus mechowii, new species, p. 147). (in German).
  • de Witte GF, Laurent RF (1947). "Revision d'un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus, et formes affines ". Mém. Mus. Roy. Hist. Nat. Belgique (sér. 2) 29: 1-134. (Xenocalamus mechowii inornatus, new subspecies, p. 51). (in French).


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