Amblyodipsas polylepis, or the common purple-glossed snake, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the Atractaspididae family.
Geographic range It is endemic to the eastern and northern regions of southern Africa.Schmidt, Warren. 2006. Reptiles and Amphibians of Southern Africa. Struik. Cape Town. p. 19. More specifically, it is found in Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Republic of South Africa, Tanzania, coastal Kenya, and Somalia.The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
Description Dorsal scales smooth, without pits, arranged in 21 rows, which is more than any other species of Amblyodipsas as the specific epithet, polylepis, implies. Ventrals 163–212; anal divided; subcaudals 16–27, divided. In every other respect scalation is like Amblyodipsas unicolor.
Completely blackish brown. Total length ; tail .Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume III. London. pp. 245-246.
Diet
This species has been recorded to prey upon Monopeltis luandae, as well as other genera of Amphisbaenidae such as Zygaspis. References Notes
Bibliography Bocage, J.V.B. 1873. Melanges herpétologiques. II. Sur quelques reptiles et batraciens nouveaux, rares ou peu connus d'Afrique occidentale. Journ. Acad. Sci. Lisboa 4:209-227.