Naja ashei

Well ashei counts within the family of poisonous snakes ( Elapidae ) to the genus of the Real cobras (Naja ). It was discovered in 2004 and described in 2007 as a separate species.

Designation

The species is named after the Kenyan James Ashe (1925-2004), the Bio-Ken Snake Farm in Watamu founded on the Kenyan coast, where the snake was discovered.

The snake was identified as a brown variant of the African spitting cobra long. However, it differs from all other species of spitting cobra in Africa. Wolfgang Wüster and Donald Broadley published in 2007 a ​​description of Naja ashei in the journal Zootaxa.

Features

The head of Naja ashei is uniformly brownish -olive on top, with a lighter grayer region on the upper lips and around the eyes. The underside of the head is covered with fine brownish gray pigments. The top of the body and the rear part are uniformly colored olive brown. The neck is directly towards the head darker than the head or body top at the back. The mean body and rump bottom are brightly colored with pigments that engage primarily from the sides.

Well ashei differs from most East African black-necked cobra by the high number of scales on top and bottom. Have ashei Most Well over 195 ventral and at least 21 (usually more) scales around the neck, however, most black-necked cobra, however, have 195 or more ventral than 21 but usually 19 or fewer scales around the throat, where they have fewer ventral scales are ever more present on the neck. From the other spitting cobra Naja ashei species is distinguished by the number of scales.

Dissemination

Well ashei is mainly in the north and spread on the Kenyan coast. Furthermore, it also occurs in southern Somalia as well as in southwestern Ethiopia. She is also in the north-western Uganda, to be found in the Karamoja region.

Poison

Well ashei is able to deliver massive amounts of poison. A large specimen, which was milked at the Bio - Ken Snake Farm, was 6.2 milliliters of liquid from venom, equivalent to 7.1 grams.

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