''Aspidelaps'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
venomous elapid snakes
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
.
Species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
in the genus ''Aspidelaps'' are commonly called shield-nosed cobras, African coral snakes or coral cobras after their cobra hoods and enlarged
rostral
Rostral may refer to:
Anatomy
* Rostral (anatomical term), situated toward the oral or nasal region
* Rostral bone, in ceratopsian dinosaurs
* Rostral organ, of certain fish
* Rostral scale, in snakes and scaled reptiles
Other uses
* Rostral colu ...
(nose) scales. However, the hood is not nearly as well developed in ''Aspidelaps'' as it is in the true cobras of the genus ''
Naja''.
Species
Venom
''Aspidelaps'' venom is neurotoxic, and ''Aspidelaps'' bites have caused human deaths in a few cases.
[ Branch, Bill (2004). ''Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa''. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp., 112 color plates. (Genus ''Aspidelaps'', p. 103).]
References
External links
*
Further reading
*
Boulenger GA (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphæ) ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus ''Aspidelaps'', p. 390).
*
Branch, Bill (2004). ''Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa''. Third Revised Edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. (Genus ''Aspidelaps'', p. 103).
*
Fitzinger L (1843). ''Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae''. Vienna: Braumüller & Seidel. 106 pp. + indices. (''Aspidelaps'', new genus, p. 28). (in Latin).
Snake genera
Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger
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