Lichtenstein's night otter
| Lichtenstein's night otter | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Causus lichtensteinii | ||||||||||||
| ( Jan , 1859) |
Lichtenstein's night viper ( Causus lichtensteinii ), also known as the forest toad viper, is one of six species of toad vipers (Causinae) within the vipers (Viperidae).
features
Lichtenstein's night otter reaches an average total length of 30 to 55 centimeters, with a documented maximum length of 70 centimeters. The body is relatively slim compared to other toad vipers. The head is only slightly set off from the body and is not particularly wide, the snout is blunt and not elongated.
The basic color is velvety greenish-gray to olive green, the back is covered with thin, backward-pointing angular spots. These can be separated from each other or form a chain of rhombus spots . There is a V-shaped, white mark on the neck, and the throat has white to yellow banding. The young snakes are mostly dark brown in color and have a head markings made of white stripes. A white line runs from the rostral over the eye to the corner of the mouth, a second also leads from the rostral over the lips and meets the first at the corner of the mouth. The neck has a very conspicuous white V-drawing with a dark front border and the tip on the parietal shield . The back markings are also clearly more pronounced than in the adult snakes.
The back scales are weakly keeled, with 15 rows of scales extending around the body in the middle of the body. The ventral side is covered by 128 to 152 ventralia , followed by the anal shield and 18 to 22 subcaudalia in males and 17 to 19 in females. The scaling of the head shows 6 supra- and 9 sublabials . The eye ring is formed by 5 to 7 circumorbitalia .
distribution and habitat
Lichtenstein's night otter is distributed over parts of western and central Africa. The distribution area extends over Sierra Leone , Ghana , Nigeria , western Kenya , Uganda and northern Angola . Individual isolated sites are also known from southeastern Sudan , the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Zambia . Due to her good swimming ability, she has also settled islands in Lake Victoria .
As a habitat, the snake prefers undisturbed areas of the African rainforest with little light. It lives in swampy areas near rivers and lakes. The maximum altitude documented so far has been 670 meters above sea level in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve in Ghana.
Way of life
As with all toad vipers, relatively little is known scientifically about the way of life of this species. It feeds mainly on frogs and toads. It is diurnal and mostly found out of the water, although it can swim very well. Outside of her active hours she hides in tree hollows, under rootstocks and other structures that cover the ground. In the event of disturbances, it shows a defensive behavior consisting of hissing and puffing sounds.
Lichtenstein's night otter is probably viviparous ( ovoviviparous ), the young being born from September. A litter consists of four to eight young snakes.
Systematics
Lichtenstein's night otter is one of six species of the only genus within toad vipers (Causinae). In addition to the primeval vipers (Azemiopinae) with the Fea viper ( Azemiops feae ) as the only species, as well as the species-rich pit vipers ( Crotalinae) and real vipers (Viperinae), these represent one of the subfamilies of the vipers (Viperidae).
Snake venom
About the poison of this kind there are no scientific studies. Toad vipers generally have a relatively weak poison for humans, which is only rarely used when catching prey. Despite the large poison glands, hardly any poison is injected into the prey; as a rule, small amounts of it drip from the poison teeth. Bites in humans only lead to local swelling and pain; no deaths from toad vipers are known.
Receipts and further information
Sources cited
Much of the information in this article is taken from Mallow et al. (2003), the following sources are also cited:
literature
- David Mallow, David Ludwig, Göran Nilson: True Vipers. Natural History and Toxicology of Old World Vipers. Krieger Publishing Company Malabar, Florida, 2003; Pages 24-25, ISBN 0-89464-877-2