Published October 22, 2025 | Version v1

Philothamnus girardi Bocage 1893

  • 1. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485 - 661 Vairão, Portugal & CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485 - 661 Vairão, Portugal & Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 1021, 4169 - 007 Porto, Portugal
  • 2. Aquário Vasco da Gama, R. Direita do Dafundo, 1495 - 718 Cruz Quebrada, Portugal
  • 3. Section of Amphibians and Reptiles, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 - 4080, USA
  • 4. Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Stewardship, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
  • 5. BIOPOLIS Program in Genomics, Biodiversity and Land Planning, CIBIO, Campus de Vairão, 4485 - 661 Vairão, Portugal & CIBIO, Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Campus de Vairão, Universidade do Porto, 4485 - 661 Vairão, Portugal

Description

Philothamnus girardi Bocage, 1893 *

Specimen.

Equatorial Guinea: “ Ile d’Anno-Bom, Golfe de Guinée ”: BMNH 1946.1.6.3 [syntype, originally BMNH 1893.12.27.18; Fig. 24].

Comments.

Bocage (1893 b, 1893 c) briefly described Philothamnus girardi based on eight specimens collected in 1892 by Francisco Newton on Anno-Bom Island and promptly presented a duplicate to the British Museum in the same year. This specimen was cited by Boulenger (1894 b) as “ one of the types ” and by Loveridge (1958) as a “ cotype ”. Hughes (1985) suggested it was one of three surviving syntypes “ and should be considered a neotype ”. Although Wallach et al. (2014) considered this specimen to be a lectotype, Hughes’ (1985) statement does not constitute a lectotype designation compliant with Article 74.5 of the Code, and therefore BMNH 1946.1.6.3 should retain the status of syntype. It is unclear if additional syntypes were sent to other European museums, making the specimen in the British Museum the only known surviving type.

Notes

Published as part of Parrinha, Diogo, Calado, Francisco M. G., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2025, Echoes of a lost museum: Revision of the herpetological collections sent by Barbosa du Bocage from the Lisbon Museum to the British Museum of Natural History, pp. 353-404 in Vertebrate Zoology 75 on pages 353-404, DOI: 10.3897/vz.75.e169790

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

Collection code
BMNH
Material sample ID
BMNH 1946.1.6.3, BMNH 1893.12.27.18
Scientific name authorship
Bocage
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Family
Colubridae
Genus
Philothamnus
Species
girardi
Taxon rank
species
Type status
syntype
Taxonomic concept label
Philothamnus girardi Bocage, 1893 sec. Parrinha, Calado, Marques, Bauer & Ceríaco, 2025

References

  • Bocage JVB (1893 b) Mammiferos, aves e reptis da ilha de Anno-Bom. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Série 2, 3: 43–46.
  • Bocage JVB (1893 c) Diagnoses de deux nouveaux reptiles de l'île de Anno-Bom. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Série 2, 3: 47–48.
  • Boulenger GA (1894 b) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II. Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridae Aglyphae. British Museum, London, xi, 382 pp., 20 plates.
  • Loveridge A (1958) Revision of five African snake genera. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 119: 1–198.
  • Hughes B (1985) Progress on a taxonomic revision of African green tree snakes (Philothamnus spp.). In: Schuchmann KL (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on African Vertebrates. Zoological Research Museum A. Koenig, Bonn, 511–530.
  • Wallach V, Williams KL, Boundy J (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1227 pp.