{{Short description|Genus of snakes}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Atractaspis'' | image = Atractaspis engaddensis.jpg | image_caption = ''[[Atractaspis engaddensis]]'' | taxon = Atractaspis | authority = [[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|A. Smith]], 1849 }}'''''Atractaspis''''' is a [[genus]] of [[venomous snake]]s in the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] [[Atractaspididae|Atractaspidae]], also known as the stiletto snakes. The genus is [[Endemism|endemic]] to [[Africa]] and the [[Middle East]]. The genus contains 15 [[species]] that are recognized by ITIS.<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS|id=209551|taxon=''Atractaspis ''|accessdate=29 August 2007}}</ref> Others recognize as many as 21 [[species]].<ref>"''Atractaspis'' ". ''Dahms Tierleben''. www.dahmstierleben.de/systematik/Reptilien/Squamata/Serpentes/colubroidea/lamprophiidae/Atractaspidinae.</ref><ref name="RDB">{{EMBL genus|genus=Atractaspis}}. www.reptile-database.org.</ref><ref>"''Atractaspis'' ". Wikispecies.</ref> 23 are listed here.
==Common names== [[Common names]] for snakes of the genus ''Atractaspis'' include burrowing vipers, burrowing asps, mole vipers, stiletto snakes, side-stabbing snakes, side-stabbers. "Side stabbing" refers to the snakes' uncommon ability to strike with the side of its head and inject venom with one protruding fang.<ref name="SB95">[[species:Stephen Spawls|Spawls S]], [[William Roy Branch|Branch B]] (1995). ''The Dangerous Snakes of Africa: Natural History, Species Directory, Venoms and Snakebite''. Ralph Curtis Books. Dubai: Oriental Press. 192 pp. {{ISBN|0-88359-029-8}}.</ref>
==Geographic range== Species of the genus ''Atractaspis'' are found mostly in [[Sub-Saharan Africa]], with a limited distribution in the [[Jordan Valley (Middle East)|Jordan valley]] in [[Israel]], [[Palestine]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula]].<ref name="SB95"/>
==Description== Members of the genus ''Atractaspis'' share the following characteristics: Venom fangs enormously developed; a few teeth on the [[palatine bone|palatines]], none on the [[Pterygoid bone|pterygoids]]; [[mandible]]s [[Edentulism|edentulous]] anteriorly, with 2 or 3 very small teeth in the middle of the [[dentary bone]]. Postfrontal bone absent. Head small, not distinct from neck, covered with large symmetrical shields; nostril between 2 nasals; no loreal; eye minute, with round pupil. Body cylindrical; dorsal scales smooth, without apical pits, in 17 to 37 rows; ventrals rounded. Tail short; subcaudals either single or in two rows.<ref>[[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger GA]] (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III., Containing the ... Viperidæ''. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus ''Atractaspis'', pp. 510-511, Figure 36).</ref>
==Species== {|cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 border=1 style="border-collapse: collapse;" !bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Species<ref name="ITIS"/><ref name="RDB"/> !bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Taxon author*<ref name="ITIS"/><ref name="RDB"/> !bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Subspecies**<ref name="ITIS"/> !bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Common name<ref name="SB95"/> !bgcolor="#f0f0f0"|Geographic range<ref name="RDB"/><ref name="SB95"/> |- |''[[Atractaspis andersonii|A. andersonii]]'' |[[George Albert Boulenger|Boulenger]], 1905 |align="center"| | |Oman, Yemen |- |''[[Atractaspis aterrima|A. aterrima]]'' |[[Albert Günther|Günther]], 1863 | rowspan="2" align="center" |———— |slender burrowing asp |Africa: from Senegal and the Gambia east to DR Congo and Uganda. |- |''[[Atractaspis battersbyi|A. battersbyi]]'' |[[Gaston-François de Witte|de Witte]], 1959 |[[species:James Clarence Battersby|Battersby's]] burrowing asp |Africa: Bolobo, on the [[Congo River]] basin, DR Congo. |- |''[[Atractaspis bibronii|A. bibronii]]'' |[[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|A. Smith]], 1849 |align="center"|''bibronii'' ''rostrata'' |[[Gabriel Bibron|Bibron's]] burrowing asp |Southern Africa, from central Namibia, east to northern South Africa, north to south-eastern DR Congo, eastern Tanzania, coastal Kenya, and extreme southern coastal Somalia. |- |''[[Atractaspis boulengeri|A. boulengeri]]'' |[[:fr:François Mocquard|Mocquard]], 1897 |''matschiensis'' <br />''mixta'' <br />''schmidti'' <br />''schultzei'' <br />''vanderborghti'' |Central African burrowing asp |Africa: the forests of the western [[Congo River]] basin. |- |''[[Atractaspis branchi|A. branchi]]'' |[[Mark-Oliver Rödel|Rödel]] et al., 2019 | |[[William Roy Branch|Branch's]] stiletto snake |Africa: from Liberia to Guinea |- |''[[Atractaspis congica|A. congica]]'' |[[Wilhelm Peters|W. Peters]], 1877 |''leleupi'' <br />''orientalis'' |Congo burrowing asp |Africa: from the mouth of the Congo River south to Angola, south-eastern DR Congo and northern Zambia. |- |''[[Atractaspis corpulenta|A. corpulenta]]'' |([[Edward Hallowell (herpetologist)|Hallowell]], 1854) |''kivuensis'' <br />''leucura'' |fat burrowing asp |Africa: from Liberia to Ghana and from Nigeria eastwards to north-eastern DR Congo. |- |''[[Atractaspis dahomeyensis|A. dahomeyensis]]'' |[[José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage|Bocage]], 1887 | rowspan="2" align="center" |———— |[[Dahomey]] burrowing asp |Africa: from southwestern Cameroon, north and west through Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, north-western Ivory Coast, south-western Burkina Faso and south-central Mali. |- |''[[Atractaspis duerdeni|A. duerdeni]]'' |[[species:Lewis Henry Gough|Gough]], 1907 |[[James Edwin Duerden|Duerden's]] burrowing asp |Africa in two isolated populations: one in north-central Namibia and one in south-eastern Botswana and northern South Africa. |- |''[[Atractaspis engaddensis|A. engaddensis]]'' |[[Georg Haas (paleontologist)|Haas]], 1950 | |En-Gedi asp, alasawad alkhabith |Asia: Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon |- |''[[Atractaspis engdahli|A. engdahli]]'' |[[Einar Lönnberg|Lönnberg]] & [[:fr:Lars Gabriel Andersson|Andersson]], 1913 | rowspan="2" align="center" |———— |[[Theodore Engdahl|Engdahl's]] burrowing asp |Africa: southern Somalia and the lower [[Juba River|Juba Valley]] northwest into northeastern Kenya. |- |''[[Atractaspis fallax|A. fallax]]'' |W. Peters, 1867 | |Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia |- |''[[Atractaspis irregularis|A. irregularis]]'' |([[Johannes Theodor Reinhardt|J.T. Reinhardt]], 1843) |''angeli'' <br />''bipostocularis'' <br />''conradsi'' <br />''parkeri'' <br />''uelensis'' |variable burrowing asp |Africa: from Liberia to Ghana, from Nigeria east to Uganda, southern Sudan, and western and central Kenya, and south to north-eastern Tanzania, DR Congo and north-western Angola. |- |''[[Atractaspis leucomelas|A. leucomelas]]'' |Boulenger, 1895 |align="center"|———— |Ogaden burrowing asp |Africa: eastern Ethiopia, northwestern Somalia and [[Djibouti]]. |- |''[[Atractaspis magrettii|A. magrettii]]'' |[[species:Giuseppe Scortecci|Scortecci]], 1928 | | |western Eritrea, northwestern Ethiopia, south-eastern Sudan |- |''[[Atractaspis microlepidota|A. microlepidota]]'' |Günther, 1866 | |small-scaled burrowing asp |Africa: Senegal, Gambia, southern Mauritania, and western Mali |- |''[[Atractaspis micropholis|A. micropholis]]'' |Günther, 1872 | | |Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria |- |''[[Atractaspis phillipsi|A. phillipsi]]'' |[[Thomas Barbour|Barbour]], 1913 | | |south-eastern Sudan |- |''[[Atractaspis reticulata|A. reticulata]]'' |[[Bror Yngve Sjöstedt|Sjöstedt]], 1896 |''brieni'' <br />''heterochilus'' |reticulate burrowing asp |Central Africa: from southern Cameroon, east to eastern DR Congo and south to Angola. |- |''[[Atractaspis scorteccii|A. scorteccii]]'' |[[Hampton Wildman Parker|Parker]], 1949 |align="center"|———— |Somali burrowing asp |Africa: eastern Ethiopia and northern Somalia. |- |''[[Atractaspis watsoni|A. watsoni]]'' |Boulenger, 1908 | |Watson's burrowing asp |Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal |} ''*) A taxon author in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Atractaspis''.''<br /> ''**) Not including the [[nominotypical subspecies|nominate subspecies]].''
==See also== * [[Snakebite]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *[[William Roy Branch|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. {{ISBN|0-88359-042-5}}. (Genus ''Atractaspis'', pp. 61–62). *[[Andrew Smith (zoologist)|Smith A]] (1849). ''Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa; Consisting Chiefly of Figures and Descriptions of the Objects of Natural History Collected during an Expedition into the Interior of South Africa, in the Years 1834, 1835, and 1836; Fitted out by "The Cape of Good Hope Association for Exploring Central Africa:" Together with a Summary of African Zoology, and an Inquiry into the Geographical Ranges of Species in that Quarter of the Globe''. [Volume III. Reptilia]. London: Lords Commissioners of her Majesty's Treasury. (Smith, Elder and Co., printers). 78 plates + unnumbered pages of text. (''Atractaspis'', new genus. Plate 71).
==External links== {{Commons category|Atractaspis}} {{Wikispecies|Atractaspis}} *{{NRDB genus|genus=Atractaspis|date=29 August|year=2007}} *[https://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/2012/08/stiletto-snakes.html Stiletto snakes] on [https://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/ Life is Short but Snakes are Long] *[https://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2008/05/26/sidestabbing-stiletto-snakes Side-stabbing stiletto snakes] on [https://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology Tetrapod Zoology]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q646565}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Atractaspididae]] [[Category:Snake genera]] [[Category:Taxa named by Andrew Smith (zoologist)]]