Leioheterodon geayi

Leioheterodon geayi, commonly known as the Madagascan speckled hognose snake, the speckled hognose snake or Geay's hognose snake, is a species of mildly venomous snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is native to southwestern Madagascar.

Leioheterodon geayi
Scientific classification edit
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Pseudoxyrhophiidae
Genus: Leioheterodon
Species:
L. geayi
Binomial name
Leioheterodon geayi
Mocquard, 1905
Synonyms[1]
  • Lioheterodon [sic] geayi Mocquard, 1905
  • Lioheterodon voeltzkowi Boettger, 1913
  • Leioheterodon geayi
    — Glaw & Vences, 1994

Etymology

The specific name, geayi, is in honor of French naturalist Martin François Geay (1859-1910) who collected the type specimen.[2]

Description

L. geayi can grow to a total length (including tail) of 90–140 cm (35–55 in).

It is an opisthoglyphous ("rear-fanged") snake, having a pair of enlarged teeth at the rear of each maxilla (upper jaw).[3]

References
  1. "Leioheterodon geayi ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. 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. (Leioheterodon geayi, p. 99).
  3. Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Genus Lioheterodon [sic], pp. 268-269).

Further reading
  • Glaw F, Vences M (1994). A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Second Edition. Cologne, Germany: Vences & Glaw Verlag/Serpents Tale. 480 pp. ISBN 978-3929449013.
  • Mocquard F (1905). "Description de deux nouvelles espèces de Reptiles ". Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle de Paris 11: 288-290. (Lioheterodon [sic] geayi, new species, pp. 289–290). (in French).
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