92 



E. KOCHVA 



BEHAVIOUR 



Fig. 1 Atractaspis engaddensis in a combined defensive/offensive 

 position. Note the arched neck and the beginning of the coiled body 

 with exposed tip of the tail. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The distribution of the Atractaspis species is unique (Fig. 2), starting 

 from the Cape of South Africa, through the entire breadth of central 

 Africa and along the Rift Valley to Arabia, Sinai, Jordan and Israel, 

 reaching its northernmost border at Mount Gilboa ( Al-Oran & Amr, 

 1995; Kochva, 1998). 



It is in Israel that the last species of Atractaspis was found and 

 described. It was first recorded by Aharoni in 1945 as Atractaspis 

 ate rri ma andlater described as anew species, Atractaspis engaddensis, 

 by Haas in 1950. A. engaddensis is very similar to the Arabian A. 

 microlepidota andersoni (Gasperetti, 1988), but a decision on the 

 exact status of the two will have to await further information on the 

 distribution of Atractaspis forms in the Arabian Peninsula as well as 

 on the toxicity and composition of their venoms (see also Al-Sadoon 

 etal, 1991; Al-Sadoon & Abdo, 1991; Schatti & Gasperetti, 1994). 



Species of the genus Atractaspis are desert-dwelling, fossorial 

 snakes, whose behaviour and natural history are not well known. 

 The Israeli species, A. engaddensis, is mostly found in the Negev 

 desert and Dead Sea area, but it also extends to the Judean desert and 

 along the Jordan Valley up to Mount Gilboa (Fig. 2). 



A. engaddensis feeds mainly on skinks, but also on lizards and 

 geckoes that are caught at night above or below ground, beneath 

 stones or other objects. In captivity, it also accepts baby mice and 

 rats. A. microlepidota feeds on other snakes such Typhlops and 

 Leptotyphlops, amphibians and small mammals, mostly rodents 

 (Scortecci, 1939; Greene, 1997). In a four-year field study carried 

 out by Akani etal. (2001) in south-eastern Nigeria, it was found that 

 A. irregularis fed mainly on rodents, while A. aterrima and A. 

 corpulenta ate lizards, skinks and snakes. 



The swallowing behaviour of Atractaspis may be influenced by 

 its nearly vestigial teeth. As described for A. bibroni, it is character- 

 ised by a rather inefficient transport mechanism in which the snake 

 forces its head over the prey with lateral rotations around a vertical 

 axis, rather than with the 'pterygoid walk' used by other snakes. 

 This can be considered to be an adaptation towards feeding in 

 narrow spaces and explained by the lack of connection between the 

 pterygoid and palatine bones that are separated by a wide gap 

 bridged by a ligament (Deufel & Cundall, 2000; MS; see also 

 Underwood and Kochva, 1993). 



A. engaddensis lays 2-3 elongated eggs during the months of 

 September-November and hatching occurs after about 3 months 

 (Fig. 3). 



An interesting behavioural feature of this snake is its threat 

 posture during which it presses its head to the ground while arching 

 its neck (Fig. 1). This may turn either into a strike or into what 

 appears to be a defensive display mechanism (Greene, 1979; 1997; 

 Golani & Kochva, 1993). The snake forms a tight coil with the head 

 hidden underneath the body and the wriggling tail is exposed above 



□ microlepidota group 



□ bibroni group 

 ED overlapping area 



Fig. 2 Distribution map of Atractaspis species with the southern African bibroni group and the northern microlepidota group reaching the region of 

 Mount Gilboa (after Underwood & Kochva, 1993; Joger, 1997). 



