Psammophis zambiensis Hughes and Wade, 2002 Zambian Whip Snake

Conradie, Werner, Baptista, Ninda L., Verburgt, Luke, Keates, Chad, Harvey, James, Júlio, Timóteo & Neef, Götz, 2021, Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi river drainages. Part 1: Serpentes (snakes), Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 292) 15 (2), pp. 244-278 : 267

Psammophis zambiensis Hughes and Wade, 2002 Zambian Whip Snake ( Fig. 31 , Map 29)

Material: PEM R 23287, Cuanavale River source lake, Moxico Province, -13.09330° 18.89396°, ~ 1,367 m asl; PEM R 23444, INBAC: WC-4793, Cuando River Source Trap 1, Moxico Province, -13.00393° 19.12808°, 1,351 m asl; PEM R 23433, Cuando River Source Trap 2, Moxico Province, -13.00426° 19.12719°, 1,350 m asl; PEM R 23331, Cuito River Source Lake, Moxico Province, -12.68935° 18.36012°, 1,435 m asl; PEM R 27384, Quembo River bridge camp, Trap 4, Moxico Province, -13.52658° 19.27810°, 1,248 m asl; PEM R 23475, Quembo trap 1, Moxico Province, -13.13592° 19.04417°, 1,369 m asl. Description: Dorsal scales smooth and in 17 rows at midbody; 150–160 smooth ventrals; 75–86 paired subcaudals; 1 preocular; 2 postoculars; temporals 2+3; 8 supralabials, with 4 th and 5 th entering the orbit; 9 infralabials, the first four in contact with the anterior chin shield; cloacal scale divided. Largest female: 524 + 78 mm ( PEM R 23433); largest male: 656 + 237 mm ( PEM R 23444). Habitat and natural history notes: One specimen had a Ptychadena uzungwensis in its stomach, while another contained the remains of a Trachylepis sp. Comment: This species was only recently described from northern Zambia and adjacent DRC ( Hughes and Wade 2002), and very little is known about its full distribution. These new records are the first confirmed records of P. zambiensis for Angola and extend the species’ distribution westward. Marques et al. (2018) assigned material from Calombe ( Manaças 1973), Dundo ( Laurent 1950, 1954, 1964; Thys van den Audenaerde 1966), ‘Dundo, R. Mussungue, aff. Luachimo’ ( Thys van den Audenaerde 1966), ‘Barrage de la Luachimo’ ( Thys van den Audenaerde 1966), and ‘Muita (Lumebe)’ ( Laurent 1954) as potentially belonging to this species, but the ventral (168–177) and subcaudal (83–98) counts listed are much higher than those recorded by Hughes and Wade (2002; 148–165 ventrals and 75–90 subcaudals) for P. zambiensis and groups closer with the P. ‘ sibilans ’ group (e.g., 167–177 ventrals and 81–103 subcaudals). In addition to the lower scale counts, this species has diagnostic ventral black barring which distinguishes it from the sympatric P. mossambicus ( Hughes and Wade 2002) . A genetically confirmed record from Lubango, Huíla Province ( PEM R 22074) extends the known distribution of this species 600 km further west ( Keates 2021). It has also recently been recorded as far east as Malawi ( Brown 2019).

Figures

Fig. 31. Psammophis zambiensis from Cuando River source. Photo by Werner Conradie.