Eryx muelleri, known commonly as Müller's sand boa or the Saharan sand boa, is a species of snake in the subfamily Erycinae of the family Boidae.McDiarmid, Roy W.; Campbell, Jonathan A.; Touré, T'Shaka A. (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference Vol. 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. The species is endemic to Africa. There are two recognized subspecies. It is kept fairly regularly in the pet industry due to its docile nature and easy care.
Etymology The specific name, muelleri, is in honor of Swiss herpetologist Fritz Müller.Beolens, Bo, Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Gongylophis muelleri, p. 184).
Geographic range Eryx muelleri is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and Togo.. www.reptile-database.org.
Habitat The preferred natural habitats of Eryx muelleri are savanna and desert, at elevations from sea level to .
Behavior Eryx muelleri is terrestrial, nocturnal, and fossorial.
Diet Eryx muelleri preys predominately upon small rodents, but also eats lizards.
Reproduction Eryx muelleri is oviparous.
Subspecies Two subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominate subspecies. Eryx muelleri muelleri Eryx muelleri subniger
Nota bene: The trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Eryx.
References
Further reading Angel F (1938). "Liste des reptiles du Mauritanie recueillis par la mission d'études de la biologie des Acridiens en 1936 et 1937. Description d'une sous-espèce nouvelle d Eryx muelleri". Bulletin du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle de Paris, Series 2, 10: 485–487. (Eryx muelleri subniger, new subspecies). (in French). Boulenger GA (1892). "Description of a new Snake from Nubia". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Sixth Series 9: 74–76. (Gongylophis muelleri, new species). Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Boidæ ....''' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Eryx muelleri'', new combination, p. 128 + Plate V, figure 2).