Polemon is a genus of rear-fanged venomous snakes in the family Atractaspididae. The genus is endemic to Africa. Fifteen species are recognized as being valid.[1][2]
Miodon is a synonym. The mollusc genus of family Carditidae invalidly described by Carpenter in 1863 has been renamed Miodontiscus.
Common name
The common name of this genus is snake-eaters, for their habit of feeding mainly on smaller snakes.
Description
In the genus Polemon the maxillary is very short, with three small teeth, followed, after an interspace, by a very large, grooved fang situated anterior to the eye. The third and fourth mandibular teeth are large and fang-like. The head is small, and not distinct from neck. The eyes are minute, with round pupils. The nostrils are in a divided nasal which does not touch the rostral, the internasal forms a suture with the first upper labial. No loreal is present. The parietal is narrowly in contact with an upper labial.
The body is cylindrical, with a very short tail. Dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, and are arranged in 15 rows. The ventrals are rounded; the subcaudals are single (entire),[3] or double (divided).
Species
Genus
Polemon -- 13 species Species
[1] Taxon author
[1] Subspecies*
[1] Common name
[2] Geographic range
[2] P. acanthias[4] (
J.T. Reinhardt, 1860) ———— Reinhardt's snake-eater
Guinea,
Liberia,
Ivory Coast,
Ghana,
Togo,
Sierra Leone.
P. ater Portillo,
Branch,
Tilbury,
Nagy,
Hughes,
Kusamba,
Muninga,
Aristote,
Behangana &
Greenbaum, 2019 ———— black snake-eater
Central Africa,
East Africa.
P. barthii Jan, 1858 ———— Guinea snake-eater
Guinea,
Ivory Coast,
Cameroon.
P. bocourti Mocquard, 1897 ———— Bocourt's snake-eater
Cameroon,
Río Muni,
Gabon,
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire).
P. christyi (
Boulenger, 1903) ———— eastern snake-eater
Dem. Rep. Congo,
Malawi,
Uganda,
Tanzania,
Zambia.
P. collaris (
W. Peters, 1881)
brevior longior collared snake-eater
Angola,
Cameroon,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Gabon,
Equatorial Guinea,
Rwanda,
Burundi,
Uganda,
Nigeria,
Central African Republic.
P. fulvicollis (Mocquard, 1887)
gracilis graueri laurenti African snake-eater
Gabon,
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire),
Congo,
Uganda.
P. gabonensis (
A.H.A. Duméril, 1856)
schmidti Gaboon snake-eater
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire),
Cameroon,
Nigeria,
Benin,
Togo,
Central African Republic.
P. gracilis (Boulenger, 1911) ———— graceful snake-eater South
Cameroon.
P. graueri (
Sternfeld, 1908) ———— Grauer's snake-eater
Uganda, eastern
Zaire.
P. griseiceps (
Laurent, 1947) ———— Cameroon snake-eater
Cameroon,
Central African Republic,
Congo.
P. leopoldi (
de Witte, 1941) ————
Rwanda.
P. neuwiedi (Jan, 1858) ———— Ivory Coast snake-eater
Ivory Coast,
Ghana,
Togo,
Benin,
Burkina Faso,
Nigeria.
P. notatus (W. Peters, 1882)
aemulans Cameroon,
Central African Republic,
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Gabon.
P. robustus (de Witte & Laurent, 1943) ———— Zaire snake-eater
Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire),
Central African Republic.
* Not including the nominate subspecies.
See also
References
