Les Serpents d'Afrique Occidentale et Centrale [The Snakes of West and Central Africa]

About this book

Language: French

An update of our knowledge of the snakes in the area stretching from Mauritania to Chad and the Congo, Les Serpents d'Afrique Occidentale et Centrale provides both professional and amateur naturalists with a tool for identifying the snakes of this region.

The first part is devoted to general observations: characteristics of the Ophidia, origins and evolution, venom composition, snake bite epidemiology, symptomatology and treatment of poisoning due to snake bite. The second part concerns the systematics of the snakes in the region covered: numerous dichotomic keys enable even a non-specialist to identity snakes; the description of each taxon is completed by a distribution map, a drawing of the head and some times the jaws or the hemipenis; notes on biology and ecology are assembled at the end of each identification. Bites and the main species observed are depicted in some sixty photographs. An index of the old and new names of all the species facilitates access to the description. The book is completed by a list of nearly 800 references.

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