Scaphiophis Explained

Scaphiophis is a genus of African snakes in the family Colubridae. Common names include hook-nosed snakes and shovel-nosed snakes.

Species

Two species are recognized as being valid.^[1]

• Scaphiophis albopunctatus - African shovel-nosed snake
• Scaphiophis raffreyi - Ethiopian hook-nosed snake

Etymology

The specific name, raffreyi, is in honor of French scientific collector Achille Raffray.^[2]

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1894). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xi + 382 pp. + Plates I-XX. (Genus Scaphiophis, p. 254).
• Peters W (1870). "Eine Mittheilung über neue Amphibien (... Scaphiophis ...) des Königlich zoologischen Museums ". Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1870: 641-652 + Plates I-II. (Scaphiophis, new genus, p. 644; Scaphiophis albopunctatus, new species, pp. 645–646 + Plate II, figures 4, 4a, 4b, 4c). (in German).

Notes and References

1. . www.reptile-database.org.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Scaphiophis raffreyi, pp. 215-216).