Aparallactus werneri, or the Usambara centipede-eater, is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of venomous rear-fanged snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

 in the Atractaspididae

Atractaspididae

The Atractaspididae are a family of snakes found in Africa and the Middle East. Currently, 12 genera are recognized.-Description:This family includes many genera formerly classed in other families, on the basis of fang type. It includes fangless , rear-fanged , fixed-fanged , and viper-like species...

 family.

Etymology

The specific name, werneri, is in honor of Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n herpetologist Franz Werner

Franz Werner

Franz Werner was an Austrian zoologist and explorer. Specializing as a herpetologist and entomologist, Werner described numerous species and other taxa of frogs, snakes, insects, and other organisms....

, from whom Boulenger

George Albert Boulenger

George Albert Boulenger FRS was a Belgian-British zoologist who identified over 2000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles and amphibians.-Life:...

 obtained the type series of specimens.

Geographic range

It is endemic to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and is found in Eastern Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 in Usambara and the Uluguru Mountains

Uluguru Mountains

The Uluguru Mountains are a mountain range in eastern Tanzania, Africa, named after the Luguru tribe. The main Uluguru Mountains is a ridge running approximately north-south and rising to 2,630 m altitude at its highest point...

.

Description

Dorsally Aparallactus werneri is blackish with a deep black, light-edged nuchal collar. The upper lip is blackish below the eye, and yellowish in front of and behind the eye. Ventrally it is uniformly yellowish.

It may attain 39 cm (15⅜ inches) in total length, with a tail 6.5 cm (2½ inches) long.

The dorsal scales are smooth, without pits, and are arranged in 15 rows. Ventrals 147-160; anal plate entire; subcaudals 32-41, also entire.

Portion of rostral visible from above nearly half as long as its distance from the frontal. Internasals much shorter than the prefrontals. Frontal one and a half times as long as broad, longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals. Nasal entire, in contact with the preocular. Two postoculars, in contact with the anterior temporal. Temporals 1+1. Six upper labials, second and third entering the eye. First lower labial in contact with its fellow behind the mental. Three lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Two pairs of chin shields, the anterior pair broader and slightly longer than the posterior pair.