''Scaphiophis'' is a
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of
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 ...
n snakes in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Colubridae. Common names include hook-nosed snakes
and shovel-nosed snakes.
Species
Two
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 ...
are recognized as being valid.
[. www.reptile-database.org.]
*''
Scaphiophis albopunctatus''
*''
Scaphiophis raffreyi''
Etymology
The
specific name, ''raffreyi'', is in honor of French scientific collector
Achille Raffray
Achille Marie Jacques Raffray (17 October 1844 – 25 September 1923) was a French diplomat, traveller, zoologist and entomologist.
He wrote:
(Partial list)
- Entomology:
* (1890) Étude sur le Psélaphides. V. Tableaux synoptiques. Notes et s ...
.
[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).]
References
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).
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3016353
Colubrids
Snake genera
Taxa named by Wilhelm Peters