Micrelaps

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Infraordo: Caenophidia
Superfamilia: Elapoidea

Familia: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Micrelaps
Species (4): M. bicoloratus – M. muelleri – M. tchernovi – M. vaillanti
Name

Micrelaps Boettger, 1880: 136

Type species: Micrelaps muelleri Boettger, 1880, by monotypy.

References
Primary references

Boettger, O. 1880. Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palæstina und Cypern. Bericht über die Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main 1879–1880: 132–219. BHL

Additional references

Rasmussen, J.B. 2002. A review of the African members of the genus Micrelaps Boettger 1880 (Serpentes Atractaspididae). Tropical Zoology 15(1): 71–87. DOI: 10.1080/03946975.2002.10531166 Reference page.
Werner, Y.L., Babocsay, G., Carmely, H. & Thuna, M. 2006. Micrelaps in the southern Levant: variation, sexual dimorphism, and a new species (Serpentes: Atractaspididae). Zoology in the Middle East 38(1): 29–48. DOI: 10.1080/09397140.2006.10638163 Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2021. Micrelaps . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 19 April 2018.
Micrelaps – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).

Vernacular names
English: Afro-Asian Black-headed Snakes

Micrelaps is a genus of rear-fanged venomous snakes in the family Lamprophiidae. The genus is native to Africa and the Middle East. There are 4 species that are recognized as being valid.[2]

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.[1]
Species
Genus Micrelaps - five species

Species^[2]	Taxon author^[2]	Subsp.*^[2]	Common name^[3]	Geographic range^[3]
M. bicoloratus	Sternfeld, 1908	moyeri	Kenya two-headed snake	Kenya
M. boettgeri	Boulenger, 1896	————	Boettger's two-headed snake	Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda
M. muelleri	Boettger, 1880	————		Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon
M. vaillanti	(Mocquard, 1888)	————	Somali two-headed snake	Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, eastern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda

*) Not including the nominate subspecies T) Type species
References

Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (Genus Micrelaps, p. 248).
"Micrelaps". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 17 August 2007.

Genus Micrelaps at The Reptile Database. Accessed 17 August 2007.