East African egg snake
| East African egg snake | ||||||||||||
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East African egg snake ( Dasypeltis medici ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Dasypeltis medici | ||||||||||||
| ( Bianconi , 1859) |
The East African egg snake ( Dasypeltis medici ) belongs to the African egg snakes (genus Dasypeltis ) from the family of the adders (Colubridae) in the subfamily of the land and tree snakes (Colubrinae).
The species name medici honors Michele Medici (1782-1859), a physiologist at the University of Bologna , who was one of the teachers of the first person to describe Bianconi .
Systematics
There are two subspecies:
- Dasypeltis medici medici ( Bianconi , 1859)
- Dasypeltis medici lamuensis goose , 1957 ( Eastern East African egg snake )
features
The East African egg snake is aglyphic , meaning it has no fangs . The males reach a head-torso length of 60 centimeters, while the females are significantly larger with up to 76 centimeters. It has 71-109 scales on the underside of the tail ( Scutum subcaudale ). The top is light beige to reddish brown in color. Dasypeltis medici medici has a dark band along its back, which is interrupted by light spots. Behind the head there are around five V-shaped markings that are open to the rear. Dasypeltis medici lamuensis , on the other hand, has no drawings.
distribution
The distribution area of the East African egg snake is mainly East Africa and extends from southern Kenya via Tanzania and from parts of Mozambique to northern South Africa . The subspecies Dasypeltis medici lamuensis lives in the northern part of the range, while Dasypeltis medici medici occurs in the southern part. The snakes live in evergreen forests.
Way of life
The East African egg snake is nocturnal. She looks for bird nests in the tree tops and on the ground. Like all egg snakes of the genus Dasypeltis, it feeds exclusively on eggs. The eggs are swallowed whole and broken by specially shaped extensions (hypapophyses) of the thoracic vertebrae . The eggshells are later regurgitated. Even in the terrarium it has never been observed that the snakes ingest the contents of already broken bird eggs.
Since the African egg snakes do not produce poison and have only a few teeth to defend themselves against breeding birds, it is assumed that they achieve a deterrent effect through mimicry . However, like most other non-poisonous snakes that imitate poisonous snakes, they cannot use signal colors because their coloring is adapted to the environment as a camouflage color. In the case of the Dasypeltis medici medici subspecies , it is reddish shades that adapt to the laterite-containing red soils of the East African coasts. The Dasypeltis medici lamuensis subspecies is monochrome. While the widespread common egg snake has various poisonous viper species, depending on its specific area of distribution, which the egg snake imitates in terms of drawing, color and shape, there are no poisonous snakes of very similar color for the East African egg snake. However, their threatening and warning behavior is very similar to that of poisonous snakes, so that it can deter the birds.
The females lay 6–12 oval eggs, which are 24 × 8 mm in size. Only after a breeding period of several months do the young hatch and then reach a length of around 23 cm.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson: The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles . 2011.
- ↑ a b Dasypeltis medici in The Reptile Database
- ^ A b Carl Gans: Mimicry in Procryptically Colored Snakes of the Genus Dasypeltis . In: evolution . tape 15 , no. 1 , 1961.
- ^ A b c William R. Branch: Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa . 1998.
- ↑ a b c Zoopark Erfurt: East African egg snake - Dasypeltis medici .
Web links
- Pictures and videos about egg snakes on the scientific blog Snakes are Long from June 30, 2012 (accessed March 20, 2013)