Читать книгу Venoms: Venomous Animals and Antivenomous Serum-therapeutics - A. Calmette - Страница 43

Head distinct from the neck, covered with symmetrical shields; nostril between two nasal shields, and the internasal; eyes moderate, with round pupils, separated from the lips by subocular shields. Body cylindrical; scales smooth or keeled, oblique on the sides, in 15–22 rows; ventral scales rounded. Tail short; subcaudals in 2 rows or single.

Four species:—

(1) C. rhombeatus.—Snout obtuse, moderately prominent. Scales in 17–21 rows; 120–155 ventrals; 15–29 subcaudals.

Colour olive or pale brown, usually with a series of V-shaped brown spots bordered with white, and a large spot in the form of a circumflex accent at the back of the head; lips bordered with black; belly yellowish or grey.

Total length, 700 millimetres; tail 75.

Habitat: Tropical and South Africa, from the Gambia to the Cape.

(2) C. resimus.—Snout prominent, more or less turned up; scales in 19–22 rows; 134–152 ventrals; 17–25 subcaudals.

Colour greyish-olive on the back; uniform white on the belly.

Total length, 470 millimetres; tail 40.

Habitat: Central and East Africa, Angola.

(3) C. defilipii.—Snout prominent, more or less turned up. Scales in 17 rows; 113–125 ventrals; 10–18 subcaudals.

Colour grey or pale brown above, with a series of large rhomboidal or V-shaped blackish-brown spots; a large A-shaped dark brown mark on the occiput; an oblique dark streak behind the eye; supralabial shields edged with black; belly yellowish.

Total length, 400 millimetres; tail 22.

Habitat: Central and East Africa, Transvaal.

Fig. 35.—Skull of Causus rhombeatus. (After G. A. Boulenger, op. cit.)

(4) C. lichtensteinii.—Snout obtuse; scales in 15 rows; 142–144 ventrals; subcaudals 15–21, single.

Colour greyish, with rather indistinct darker chevron-shaped cross-bands.

Total length, 413 millimetres; tail 35.

Habitat: West Africa (Gold Coast), Congo.