Polemon acanthias, or Reinhardt's

Johannes Theodor Reinhardt

Johannes Theodor Reinhardt was a Danish zoologist and herpetologist. He was the son of Johannes Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt....

 snake-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. 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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Geographic range

It is found in Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

, Guinea

Guinea

Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...

, Ivory Coast, Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...

, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

, and Togo

Togo

Togo, officially the Togolese Republic , is a country in West Africa bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, on which the capital Lomé is located. Togo covers an area of approximately with a population of approximately...

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Description

Dorsally, Reinhardt's snake-eater is whitish or pale reddish, with five black stripes. The median stripe is the widest, being one plus two half dorsal scale rows wide. The outermost stripes are on the second and third dorsal scale rows on each side of the body. The top of the head is black, with a whitish occipital bar, which is edged posteriorly with black. The end of the snout, the upper lip, and the tip of the tail are white. Ventrally it is white.

Adults may attain a total length of 55 cm (21⅝ inches), with a tail 3 cm (1⅛ inch) long.

Ventrals 190-216; anal plate entire; subcaudals divided.

Diameter of the eye less than its distance from the mouth. Rostral wider than high, barely visible from above. Internasals shorter than the prefrontals. Frontal 1½ times as broad as the supraocular, 1½ to 1⅔ times as long as broad, as long as its distance from the end of the snout, shorter than the parietals. Nasal vertically divided. One preocular, in contact with the posterior nasal. One or two postoculars. Temporals 1+1. Seven upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye. First lower labial forming a suture with its fellow behind the mental. Four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. Two pairs of chin shields, the anterior pair longer than the posterior pair.