Swazi rock snake
The Swaziland house snake ( Inyoka swazicus ) is the only species of the monotypic genus Inyoka. The non-toxic snake from the superfamily of vipers and viper -like ( Colubroidae ) occurs in South Africa and Swaziland.
The genus name Inyoka means " snake " in the spoken language Swati in Swaziland, the specific epithet refers to Swaziland.
Features
The Swaziland house snake is up to about 90 inches long. It is colored uniformly reddish- beige. The head is relatively small and significantly wider than the neck. The head is wider than high. Inyoka swazicus has relatively large eyes, the pupil is vertically oval.
The scales are not keeled, but have a slight indentation. Around the middle of the body, the Swaziland - house snake has 17 dorsal scale rows. Ventral scales ( Scutum ventral ) are 199-208 available. They are smooth as opposed to the 220-244 slightly keeled ventral scales of Hormonotus modestus. Next follows the non-shared anal shield, whereupon 75-91 scales ( subcaudale Scutum ) on the tail underside connect.
In plan view, the Swaziland - house snake has large head shields, which are symmetrically arranged. In the side view, it has eight upper lip scales and nine to eleven lower lip shields. From the upper lip scales bordering the third to fifth counted from the front to the eye. Before the eye is a scale ( Präoculare ) and behind two Postoculare.
Dissemination
Inyoka swazicus inhabits rocky terrain in plains and savannas at altitudes of 1400-1900 meters above sea level. NN. The distribution area covers an area greater than 10,000 km ² of the South African province of Limpopo in the north, Mpumalanga and Swaziland to KwaZulu-Natal in the south.
Way of life
The Swaziland house snake is a purely nocturnal hunter who mainly feeds on small lizards and birds. It climbs well and hunts in trees. In the summer, sets the oviparous snake eggs. In captivity, it is up to 20 years old.
System
Schaefer has the Swaziland house snake in 1970 first described by the scientific name Lamprophis swazicus and thus classified in the genus Lamprophis. Genetic studies of Branch and Belly 2011 have shown that the genus is polyphyletic Lamprophis and Swaziland house snake is more closely related Hormonotus modestus, which is why it was spun off as a single species in the new genus Inyoka.
Protection
The IUCN leads the serpent in the Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened ( " near threatened " ) while it is classified as not at risk according to a South African study due to its wide distribution and the relatively pristine habitat.