Leioheterodon geayi, commonly known as Geay's hognose snake, the Madagascan speckled hognose snake, and the speckled hognose snake, is a species of mildly venomous snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is native to southwestern Madagascar.
Etymology The specific name, geayi, is in honor of French naturalist Martin François Geay (1859-1910) who collected the type specimen.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Leioheterodon geayi, p. 99).
Habitat The preferred natural habitats of L. geayi are forest, savanna, and sandy areas, but it has also been found in pastures and villages.
Description L. geayi can grow to a total length (including tail) of .
It is an opisthoglyphous ("rear-fanged") snake, having a pair of enlarged teeth at the rear of each maxilla (upper jaw).Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Genus Lioheterodon [sic], pp. 268-269).
Behavior L. geayi is terrestrial and diurnal.
Reproduction L. geayi is oviparous.
References
Further reading Glaw F, Vences M (1994). A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Second Edition. Cologne, Germany: Vences & Glaw Verlag / Serpents Tale. 480 pp. . Mocquard F (1905). "Description de deux nouvelles espèces de Reptiles ". Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle de Paris 11: 288-290. (Lioheterodon [sic] geayi, new species, pp. 289–290). (in French).