Aspidelaps

Aspidelaps is a genus of venomous elapid snakes endemic to Africa. Species in the genus Aspidelaps are commonly called shield-nosed cobras or coral cobras after their cobra hoods and enlarged rostral (nose) scales. However, the hood is not nearly as well developed in Aspidelaps as it is in Naja.

Aspidelaps
A. scutatus, the shield-nosed cobra
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Aspidelaps
Fitzinger, 1843
  range of A. lubricus
  range of A. scutatus

Species
Image Species Authority Subsp.* Common name Geographic range
A. lubricus (Laurenti, 1768) 2 Cape coral snake South Africa (Cape Province), southern Angola, Namibia
A. scutatus (A. Smith, 1849) 3 shield-nosed cobra Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, north-east South Africa, Mozambique

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Aspidelaps.

Venom

Aspidelaps venom is neurotoxic, and Aspidelaps bites have caused human deaths in a few cases.[1]

References
  1. Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp., 112 color plates. (Genus Aspidelaps, p. 103).

Further reading
  • Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus Aspidelaps, p. 390).
  • Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised Edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. (Genus Aspidelaps, p. 103).
  • Fitzinger L (1843). Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna: Braumüller & Seidel. 106 pp. + indices. (Aspidelaps, new genus, p. 28). (in Latin).


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