Snake family · Shovel-snout snakes
Prosymnidae
Burrowing African egg-eaters with a wedge-shaped snout.
About the Prosymnidae family
Shovel-snout snakes are small fossorial snakes that use a sharp, shovel-like snout to dig and that specialize in eating reptile eggs underground. They are harmless and seldom seen.
- Where they live
- Sub-Saharan Africa.
- How to recognize one
- Small, smooth, with a distinctly angular, shovel-shaped snout.
- Danger to people
- Harmless.
Species (17)
Angola Shovel-snoutProsymna angolensisHarmless
Angolan Shovel-snoutProsymna ambiguaHarmless
Banded shovel-snoutProsymna semifasciataHarmless
East African Shovel-SnoutProsymna stuhlmanniHarmless
Ghana Shovel-snoutProsymna meleagrisHarmless
Greigert's Shovel-SnoutProsymna greigertiHarmless
Lineolate Shovel-snoutProsymna lineataHarmless
Mozambique Shovel-snoutProsymna janiiHarmless
Multi-scaled Shovel-snoutProsymna pitmaniHarmless
Ruspoli's Shovelsnout SnakeProsymna ruspoliiHarmless
Somali Shovelsnout SnakeProsymna somalicaHarmless
South African Shovel-snoutProsymna sundevalliHarmless
South-western African Shovel-snoutProsymna frontalisHarmless
Twin-striped Shovel-snoutProsymna bivittataHarmless
Visser’s Shovel-snoutProsymna visseriHarmless- No photoKalahari Shovel-snout snakeProsymna lisimaHarmless
- No photoProsymna collarisHarmless
Genera in the Prosymnidae family
1 genera with two or more species. Open one to read about the group and browse all its snakes.
Keep learning
- What Is a Snake? Anatomy and the BasicsA clear overview of what makes a snake a snake: limbless body plan, anatomy, evolution from lizards, species diversity, and why they are ectothermic.
- How Snakes Move, Hunt, and EatHow snakes move without legs, hunt as ambushers or active foragers, kill by constriction or venom, and swallow prey wider than their head.
- What Do Snakes Eat?All snakes are carnivores. Learn what snakes eat, how diet changes with size and age, how often they feed, and how they hunt and swallow prey.
- Venomous vs Nonvenomous: How to Tell the DifferenceThe folk rules for telling venomous snakes apart, where each one fails, and why location-based identification beats guessing by sight.