African burrowing python  (Calabaria reinhardtii)

This unusual and secretive snake closely resembles the sand boas (subfamily Erycinae), leading to controversy over whether it is in fact a python or a boa (2) (3) (4). Unlike sand boas, the African burrowing python is oviparous (lays eggs) and prefers dense forest to a more arid habitat (2) (5), and many believe that the features it shares with these boas are merely the result of adaptations to a similar, fossorial (burrowing) lifestyle (3) (5).

Though most currently classify this snake with the pythons (subfamily Pythoninae), no other python in the world resembles the African burrowing python in body shape (2). The body, head and tail are cylindrical and of fairly uniform diameter, and the small head, which is indistinct from the neck, so resembles the tail that it can be hard to tell which end of the snake is which (2) (3) (6); this is further confused by the presence of white bands on the underside of both the tail and chin (2) (5). The body is brownish in colour, with lighter red, orange or yellowish flecks and irregular blotches, the head and tail are generally darker, and the belly is grey or brown. The eyes are tiny and of the same brown colour as the surrounding scales (2) (3) and the mouth is small and inconspicuous, lacking the heat-sensitive pits characteristic of other pythons (3) (7). The scales are glossy and smooth, and the rostral scale on the tip of the nose is enlarged, to aid in burrowing (3) (4) (6).