''Simoselaps minimus'', also known as the Dampierland burrowing snake, is a species of venomous burrowing snake that is

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 els ...

to Australia. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''minimus'' (“least”) refers to the species’ relatively small size.

Description

The species grows to an average of about 22 cm in length. It has a pale brown upper body, cream snout, and two black blotches on head and nape.

Behaviour

The species is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), a ...

Distribution and habitat

The species occurs in the

Dampierland Dampierland is an interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia.IBRA Version 6.1

bioregion A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use th ...

of the western

Kimberley region The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, an ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

, where the characteristic habitat is

pindan Pindan is a name given to the red-soil country of the south-western Kimberley region of Western Australia. The term comes from a local language and applies both to the soil and to the vegetation community associated with it.Lowe (2003). History ...

woodland. The

type locality Type locality may refer to: * Type locality (biology) * Type locality (geology) See also * Local (disambiguation) * Locality (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

Broome __NOTOC__ Broome may refer to: Places Australia *Broome, Western Australia **Broome International Airport **Broome Tramway **Roman Catholic Diocese of Broome **Shire of Broome **Attack on Broome during World War II United Kingdom *Broome Park, Ke ...

References

minimus The Minimus books are a series of school textbooks, written by Barbara Bell, illustrated by Dr. Helen Forte, and published by the Cambridge University Press, designed to help children of primary school age to learn Latin. The books espouse some of ...

Snakes of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Reptiles of Western Australia Taxa named by Eric Worrell Reptiles described in 1960 {{Elapidae-stub