Lytorhynchus

Lytorhynchus

 

a genus of snakes of the family Colubridae. Length, up to 50 cm. There are five species, distributed in desert and semidesert regions of Africa and Southwest Asia. Members of Lytorhynchus are fossorial, usually living under rocks, in cracks in the soil, and in termite burrows. They feed on insects, small lizards, and reptile eggs.

There is one species in the USSR, L. ridgewayi, which inhabits southern Turkmenia. It is reddish brown on top with a row of transverse spots. The snake lays a clutch of three to four eggs in June. It is harmless to man.