{{Short description|Species of snake}} {{Speciesbox | image = מחרוזן הטבעות (דו-גוני).jpg | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author1=Disi, M.A.M. |author1-link=species:Ahmad Mohammed Mousa Disi |author2=Hraoui-Bloquet, S. |author2-link=species:Souad Hraoui-Bloquet |author3=Sadek, R. |author3-link=species:Riyad Sadek |author4=Werner, Y. |author4-link=Yehudah L. Werner |author5=Crochet, P.-A. |author5-link=species:Pierre-André Crochet |date=2006 |title=''Micrelaps muelleri '' |volume=2006 |article-number=e.T61536A12509682 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T61536A12509682.en |access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> | genus = Micrelaps | species = muelleri | authority = Boettger, 1880 | synonyms = *''Micrelaps tchernovi'' <br/>{{small|Y. Werner, 2006}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=RDB/> }}

:'''''Common names:''' Müller's black-headed snake,<ref name=EDR/> Mueller's two-headed snake,<ref name=HerpMapper/> Muller's snake.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021" />''

'''''Micrelaps muelleri''''' is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the family Micrelapidae. The species is endemic to the Middle East.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021" /><ref name=RDB/>

==Taxonomy== ''Micrelaps muelleri'' is the type species for the genus ''Micrelaps''. There are no subspecies of ''M. muelleri'' that are recognized as being valid. The former species ''M. tchernovi'' was synonymized with ''M. muelleri'' by Jamison et al. in 2020.<ref name=RDB/>

==Etymology== The specific name, ''muelleri'', is in honor of Swiss herpetologist Fritz Müller.<ref name=RDB/><ref name=EDR>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (''Micrelaps muelleri'', p. 184).</ref>

==Geographic range== ''Micrelaps muelleri'' is found in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021" /><ref name=RDB>{{NRDB species |genus=Micrelaps |species=muelleri |accessdate=16 February 2021}}</ref>

==Description== ''Micrelaps muelleri'' is black, with whitish zigzag-edged rings, which may be narrower or wider than the spaces between them, mostly interrupted ventrally.

Adults may attain a total length of {{convert|40.5|cm|in|abbr=on}}, which includes a tail {{convert|3|cm|in|abbr=on}} long.

The dorsal scales are smooth, without apical pits, and arranged in 15 rows at midbody. The ventrals number 251–275. The anal plate is divided. The subcaudals, which are also divided, number 26–32.

The head is very flattened. The rostral is nearly twice as broad as deep, just visible from above. The internasals are a little broader than long, shorter than the prefrontals. The frontal is small, not broader than the supraocular, {{frac|1|2|3}} times as long as broad, hardly as long as its distance from the rostral, half as long as the parietals. Each supraocular is as long as broad. A small postocular is in contact with the first temporal. The temporals are arranged 1+1 or 1+2. There are seven upper labials, the third and fourth entering the eye. There are three or four lower labials in contact with the anterior chin shield. The anterior chin shields are as long as the posterior chin shields.<ref>Boulenger GA (1896). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ), Amblycephalidæ, and Viperidæ''. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I–XXV. (''Micrelaps muelleri'', p. 249).</ref>

==Reproduction== ''Micrelaps muelleri'' is oviparous.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021"/><ref name=RDB/>

==Habitat== The preferred habitats of ''M. muelleri'' include Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, and arable land, and it has been found in villages.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021" />

==Conservation status== ''Micrelaps muelleri'' is classified as "least concern" (LC) according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Although its range is relatively restricted, there are not believed to be major threats to it. It is present in some protected areas.<ref name="iucn status 15 November 2021" />

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=HerpMapper>{{cite web |url=https://www.herpmapper.org/taxon/micrelaps_muelleri |title=Mueller's Two-headed Snake, ''Micrelaps muelleri '' |publisher=HerpMapper |access-date=16 February 2021}}</ref> }}

==Further reading== *{{cite journal |last1=Bischoff |first1=W. |author1-link=species:Wolfgang Bischoff |last2=Schmidtler |first2=J.F. |author2-link=species:Josef Friedrich Schmidtler |title=''Nach 115 Jahren in Syrien wiedergefunden: ''Micrelaps muelleri'' Böttger, 1880 (Serpentes: Atractaspidae)'' |journal=Salamandra |date=1997 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=25–32}} (in German). *Böttger O (1880). "''Die Reptilien und Amphibien von Syrien, Palaestina und Cypern'' ". ''Bericht über die Senckenbergische naturforschende Gesellschaft in Frankurt am Main'' '''1880''': 132–219. (''Micrelaps muelleri'', new species, pp.&nbsp;137–138). (In German and Latin). *{{cite journal |last1=Jamison |first1=S. |author1-link=species:Simon Jamison |last2=Maza |first2=E. |author2-link=species:Erez Maza |last3=Sinaiko |first3=G. |author3-link=species:Guy Sinaiko |last4=Tamar |first4=K. |author4-link=species:Karin Tamar |last5=Slavenko |first5=A. |author5-link=species:Alez Slavenko |last6=Meiri |first6=S. |author6-link=species:Shai Meiri |title=To be or not to be ''tchernovi'': a taxonomic revision of the snake genus ''Micrelaps'' (Squamata: Serpentes), in Israel |journal=Zootaxa |date=2020 |volume=4881 |issue=2 |pages=290–306}} *{{cite book |last1=Sindaco |first1=R. |author1-link=species:Roberto Sindaco |last2=Venchi |first2=A. |author2-link=species:Alberto Venchi |last3=Grieco |first3=C. |author3-link=species:Cristina Grieco |title=The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic: 2. Annotated checklist and distributional atlas of the snakes of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia, with an update to the Vol. 1. ''(Monographs of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica'')'' |date=2013 |publisher=Edizioni Belvedere |location=Latina, Italy |isbn=978-8889504345}} 544 pp.

{{Taxonbar|from=Q1517893}}

Category:Atractaspididae Category:Snakes of Asia Category:Snakes of Jordan Category:Reptiles of Syria Category:Taxa named by Oskar Boettger Category:Reptiles described in 1880 Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot