Macroprotodon is a genus of in the family Colubridae. All of the member species of the genus are commonly known as false smooth snakes.
Taxonomy
The genus
Macroprotodon was originally described by French zoologist Alphone Guichenot in 1850. The genus is in the
subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae.
[" Macroprotodon ". Dahms Tierleben. www.dahmstierleben.de/systematik/Reptilien/Squamata/Serpentes/colubroidea/colubridae#Colubrinae.]
Species
Macroprotodon contains four species.
[" Macroprotodon ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.]
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M. abubakeri
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M. brevis – western false smooth snake
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M. cucullatus – false smooth snake
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M. mauritanicus
Some authorities have considered some of these species to be subspecies of the other species.[Busack SD, McCoy CJ (1990). "Distribution, variation, and biology of Macroprotodon cucullatus (Reptilia: Colubridae: Boiginae)". Ann. Carnegie Mus. 59 (4): 261-286.]
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Macroprotodon.
Further reading
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Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. ( Macroprotodon, p. 175).
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Guichenot A (1850). Histoire naturelle des reptiles et des poissons de l'Algérie. Exploration scientifique de l'Algérie pendant les années 1840, 1841, 1842. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. 147 pp. + atlas. ( Macroprotodon, new genus, and M. mauritanicus, new species, p. 22). (in French).
