Micrelaps vaillanti, or the Somali two-headed snake, 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 family 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...

. 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...

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Etymology

The specific name, vaillanti, is in honor of French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 herpetologist Léon Vaillant

Léon Vaillant

Léon Louis Vaillant was a French zoologist. He is most famous for his work in the areas of herpetology, malacology, and ichthyology...

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Geographic range

Micrelaps vaillanti is found in Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, eastern Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

, 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...

, and Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

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Description

Brown dorsally, the center of each dorsal scale grayish white. Ventrals brown in the middle, whitish on the sides.

Adults may attain a total length of 28.2 cm (11⅛ inches), with a tail 32 mm (1¼ inch) long.

Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, arranged in 15 rows (in 17 rows on the neck). Ventrals 171-203; anal plate divided; subcaudals also divided.

Head very flattened. Rostral large, twice as broad as deep, portion visible from above about ⅔ as long as its distance from the frontal. Internasals twice as broad as long, twice as long as the prefrontals. Frontal small, 1½ times as long as broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout, much shorter than the parietals. Supraocular as long as broad. One postocular, very small. Temporals 1+1. Seven upper labials, third in contact with the prefrontal, third and fourth (or third, fourth, and fifth) entering the eye. Four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Two pairs of chin shields, subequal in size.