Abstract
We describe a new stiletto snake,Atractaspis, from western Liberia and southeastern Guinea. The new species shares with morphologically similar western AfricanAtractaspisspecies,A.reticulataandA.corpulenta, the fusion of the 2ndinfralabial with the inframaxillary. FromA.corpulentathe new species differs by a more slender body (276–288 ventrals and 19 or 20 dorsal scale rows versus 178–208 ventrals with 23–29 dorsal scale rows), a divided anal plate and divided subcaudal scales (both non-divided inA.corpulenta). The new species differs from mostA.reticulataby having 19 or 20 dorsal scale rows at midbody (versus 21–23, rarely 19), and a lower ventral count (276–288 versus 304–370). The new species thus has a relatively longer tail: snout-vent-length / tail-length in the female holotype (15.7) and paratype (21.5) versus a mean of 23.6 in seven femaleA.reticulata. The newAtractaspislikely is endemic to the western part of the Upper Guinea forest zone and thus adds to the uniqueness of this diverse and threatened biogeographic region.
Highlights
The stiletto snakes or burrowing asps, genus Atractaspis Smith, 1849, currently comprise 22 (Wallach et al 2014), or 21 (Uetz et al 2018) valid species
We describe a new stiletto snake, Atractaspis, from western Liberia and southeastern Guinea
From A. corpulenta the new species differs by a more slender body (276–288 ventrals and 19 or 20 dorsal scale rows versus 178–208 ventrals with 23–29 dorsal scale rows), a divided anal plate and divided subcaudal scales
Summary
The stiletto snakes or burrowing asps, genus Atractaspis Smith, 1849, currently comprise 22 (Wallach et al 2014), or 21 (Uetz et al 2018) valid species. Most species are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa where they occur in a wide range of habitats from semi-deserts to rainforests (Spawls and Branch 1995); only two occur in the Middle East and Arabia (Wallach et al 2014; Grossmann et al 2018) These fossorial and venomous snakes are famous for their unique skull anatomy and venom delivery system, enabling them to use a single fang to bite, with closed mouth, in a lateral stabbing movement (Broadley 1990; Greene 1997; Cundall and Irish 2008; McDowell 2008). Their systematic position was matter of a constant debate and the snakes have been placed for instance within Viperidae, within Aparallactinae as subfamily of Colubridae, as a separate family Atractaspididae, and most recently as a subfamily Atractaspidinae within the Lamprophiidae (Broadley 1990; Vidal et al 2007; Wallach et al 2014; Uetz et al 2018; Portillo et al 2018).
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