View source for Biology:Aparallactus werneri

{{Short description|Species of snake}}
{{speciesbox
| genus = Aparallactus
| species = werneri
| authority = Boulenger, 1895
}}

'''''Aparallactus werneri''''', or the '''Usambara centipede-eater''', is a [[Biology:Species|species]] of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family [[Biology:Lamprophiidae|Lamprophiidae]].<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS|id=700361|taxon=''Aparallactus werneri ''|accessdate=August 9, 2010}}</ref> The species is [[Biology:Endemism|endemic]] to Tanzania.

==Etymology==
The [[Biology:Specific name (zoology)|specific name]], ''werneri'', is in honor of Austrian [[Biology:Herpetology|herpetologist]] Franz Werner, from whom Boulenger obtained the type series of specimens.<ref name="Blgr1896">Boulenger GA (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ...''. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (''Aparallactus werneri'', p. 257 + Plate XI, figure 1).</ref><ref>Boulenger GA (1893). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I. ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (sources of specimens, p. vi).</ref><ref>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}}. (''Aparallactus werneri'', p. 282).</ref>

==Geographic range==
''A. werneri'' is found in eastern Tanzania in Usambara and the Uluguru Mountains.<ref name=RDB>{{EMBL species|genus=Aparallactus|species=werneri}} www.reptile-database.org</ref>

==Description==
Dorsally, ''A. 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 {{convert|39|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} in total length, including a tail {{convert|6.5|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long.

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

The portion of the rostral visible from above is nearly half as long as its distance from the frontal. The internasals are much shorter than the prefrontals. The frontal is one and a half times as long as broad, longer than its distance from the end of the snout, as long as the parietals. The nasal is entire, in contact with the preocular. There are two postoculars, both in contact with the anterior temporal. The temporals are arranged 1+1. There are six upper labials, the second and third entering the eye. The first lower labial is in contact with its fellow behind the mental. Three lower labials contact the anterior chin shield. There are two pairs of chin shields, the anterior pair broader and slightly longer than the posterior pair.<ref name="Blgr1896"/>

==Reproduction==
''A. werneri'' is [[Biology:Oviparity|oviparous]].<ref name=RDB/>

==Taxonomy==
''A. werneri'' is sometimes placed in the subfamily Aparallactinae within the family [[Biology:Atractaspididae|Atractaspididae]].<ref name=RDB/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Boulenger GA (1895). "Descriptions of two new snakes from Usambara, German East Africa". ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Sixth Series'' '''16''': 171–173. (''Aparallactus werneri'', new species, p.&nbsp;172).
*Rasmussen JB (1981). "The snakes from the rainforest of the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: a checklist and key". ''Salamandra'' '''17''' (3/4): 173–188. (''Aparallactus werneri'', pp. 179, 182, 183) (in English, with an abstract in German). 
*Spawls, Stephen; Howell, Kim; Hinkel, Harald; Menegon, Michele (2018). ''Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition''. London: Bloomsbury Natural History. 624 pp. {{ISBN|978-1472935618}}. (''Aparallactus werneri'', p. 457).


{{Taxonbar|from=Q2704860}}

[[Category:Atractaspididae]]



{{Sourceattribution|Aparallactus werneri}}