Published September 3, 2021 | Version v1
Taxonomic treatment Open

Philothamnus angolensis Bocage 1882

Description

Philothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882

Material (one specimen): One adult specimen (MHNCUP/REP 182, formerly UP-MHNFCP-017392; Fig. S74), collected from unknown locality, date unknown.

Comments: Philothamnus angolensis is a generalist species that inhabits both subtropical forest and savanna biomes and has a widespread distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in most of Angola with the exception of the southwestern desert (Marques et al. 2018; Engelbrecht et al. 2019). Marques et al. (2018) commented that Angolan records of Philothamnus irregularis (Leach, 1819) correspond mainly to P. angolensis and Philothamnus hoplogaster (Günther, 1863). Ferreira (1904) cited an adult specimen from “Chingo” as “ Philothamnus irregularis var angolensis ” that exhibited an exceptional number of temporal scales, 2+2 (MHNCUP/REP 197, see account below) and a “blueish green” specimen of “ Philothamnus irregularis ” from “Cambondo” with 1+1 temporal scales (Ferreira 1906). An additional specimen, without locality, was also cited as “ Philothamnus Guntheri ” (a synonym of P. angolensis) with 1+1 temporal scales. Upon analysis, we believe the extant specimen does not represent any of the published records, as it has 1+2 temporal scales. Engelbrecht et al. (2019) recently reported P. angolensis as a species differentiated by morphological characteristics supported by genetic analysis.

Notes

Published as part of Santos, Bruna S., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2021, Herpetological results of Francisco Newton's Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903 – 1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection, pp. 1-80 in Zootaxa 5028 (1) on page 34, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5028.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5453967

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Linked records

Additional details

Biodiversity

References

  • Marques, M. P., Ceriaco, L. M. P., Blackburn, D. C. & Bauer, A. M. (2018) Diversity and distribution of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles of Angola atlas of historical and bibliographic records (1840 - 2017). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, 65 (Supplement 2), 1 - 501.
  • Engelbrecht, H. M., Branch, W. R., Greenbaum, E., Alexander, G. J., Jackson, K., Burger, M., Conradie, W., Kusamba, C., Zassi- Boulou, A-G. & Tolley, K. A. (2019) Diversifying into the branches: species boundaries in African green and bush snakes, Philothamnus (Serpentes: Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 130, 357 - 365. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. ympev. 2018.10.023
  • Ferreira, J. B. (1904) Reptis e amphibios de Angola da regiao ao norte do Quanza (Colleccao Newton 1903). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7 (25), 111 - 117.
  • Ferreira, J. B. (1906) Algumas especies novas ou pouco conhecidas de amphibios e reptis de Angola (Coleccao Newton - 1903 - 1904). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7 (26), 159 - 171.