One augmenting the reptile population (5)
I believe the answer is:
adder
'one augmenting the reptile population' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
This is the entire clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adder that I've seen before include "Venomous sort" , "Small poisonous snake, viper" , "1 of 21 [SNAKES]" , "a poisonous type" , "exhibit in the reptile house" .)