Aparallactinae

Branch, William R., 2018, When roads appear jaguars decline: Increased access to an Amazonian wilderness area reduces potential for jaguar conservation, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 159) 12 (2), pp. 41-82 : 55-57

Subfamily: Aparallactinae

Common Purple-glossed Snake

Amblyodipsas polylepis (Bocage 1873)

Calamelaps polylepis Bocage, 1873 . Melanges erpetologiques. II. Sur quelques reptiles et batraciens nouveaux, rares ou peu connus d‘Afrique occidentale. Jorn. Acad. Sci., Lisboa 4: 216.

Bocage’s (1873) description of Calamelaps polylepis was based on a snake from Dondo, and later material was added from Quissange and Humbe ( Bocage 1895), Cabicula ( Ferreira 1904), and Cazengo ( Boulenger 1905). Broadley (1971a) when revising the genus added no further Angolan material, but recognized an East African race (A. p. hildebrandtii) whose status has not been re-assessed.

Kalahari Purple-glossed Snake

Amblyodipsas ventrimaculata (Roux 1907)

Rhinocalamus ventrimaculata Roux, 1907 . Sur quelques Reptiles sud-africains. Rev. suisse Zool. 15: 78.

The presence of this Kalahari species was first recorded in Angola from material collected during NGOWP surveys (Conradie et al. 2017; Conradie and Branch 2017) and from Bicuar National Park (Baptista et al., in prep.).

Cape Centipede Eater

Aparallactus capensis (Smith 1849)

Aparallactus capensis Smith, 1849 . Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. 3 (Reptiles). Smith, Elder, and Co., London, 16.

Bocage (1895) recorded the species (as Urechis capensis ) from Sumbe, Bibala and Gambos, but discussed variation among this small sample (5 specimens). Boulenger (1895) considered Bocage’s material to be composite and refered some to A. guentheri and the others to two new species, A. bocagii and A. punctatolineatus , but confusingly without allocating to which of Bocage’s specimens/ localities these names applied! The type localities for these new species therefore by default became simply ‘Angola’. Loveridge (1944) revised the genus and assigned Bocage’s Quindumbo specimen to true A. c. capensis , and his other material from Bibala, Gambos and Sumbe to A. c. bocagii . Boulenger’s A. puntatolineatus was relegated to the synonymy of A. c. capensis by Loveridge (1944), but treated as a subspecies, A. capensis puntatolineatus , by De Witte and Laurent (1947). Laurent (1954) record- ed A. c. punctatolineatus from Dundo and Sombo, and Broadley (1961) continued to recognize A. c. puntatolineatus as a northwestern race. However, after discussing in detail morphological variation in all subspecies Broadley (1966a) rejected them all and later formally returned A. capensis to bionomials ( Broadley 1983). However, a recent molecular phylogeny of the Aparallactinae ( Portillo et al. 2018) noted deep divergence between various A. capensis populations, for which some of Boulenger’s names may be available. Branch and McCarthy (1992) recorded a specimen near Cuito Cuanavale with a blunt head and low labials counts, but that was otherwise typical for A. capensis . Apart from this specimen, no recent material has been collected and the status of Angolan A. capensis , particularly western bocagii (currently in the synonymy of A. capensis ), is unresolved.

Wilson’s burrowing snake

Hypoptophis wilsoni (Boulnger 1908)

Hypoptophis wilsoni Boulnger, 1908 . Description of three new snakes from Africa. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) 2: 93.

It is known in Angola from only a single record of H. wilsoni katangae from Dundo ( Laurent 1964). De Witte and Laurent (1947) differentiated H. w. katangae from typical H. w. wilsoni by its lower ventral and subcaudal counts and nasal condition. Broadley (1966a) noted that Zambian material was intermediate between the two poorly defined races and subsequently reverted to binomials ( Broadley 1998a; Broadley et al. 2003). No recent material has been available for genetic assessment.

Collared Snake-Eater

Polemon collaris ( Peters 1881)

Microsoma collare Peters, 1881 . Zwei neue von Herrn Major von Mechow während seiner letzten Expedition nach WestAfrika entdeckte Schlangen und eine Übersicht der von ihm mitgebrachten herpetologischen Sammlung. Sitzungsber. Ges. naturf. Freunde, Berlin 1881(9): 148.

Peters (1881) described Microsoma collare from “Macange, Cuango, West-Afrika.” However, Peters (1881) interchanged the spellings Macange and Malange frequently in the paper, and Crawford-Cabral and Mesquitella (1989) listed Malange as a variant of Malanje. Wallach et al. (2014) corrected the type locality to Malanje, Malanje Province, northern Angola (9°33’S, 16°20’E). Crawford-Cabral and Mesquitela (1989), who prepared a summary of all published records of Angolan terrestrial vertebrates (1784–1974), do not discuss any of Peters’ reptile publications, and aslo list “Macanje” as a version of Maconge, Moçamedes (= Namibe Province, 15°01’S, 13°12’E). However, this cannot refer to Peters’ locality as Polemon collaris is a forest species. Bocage (1887b) referred a specimen from Cazengo to this species, and later two from Quindumbo ( Bocage 1895). Additional material was noted form Gulango Alto ( Ferreira 1904), Entre Rios and Bela Vista (Hellmich 1957 - as Miodon gabonensis , then a senior synonym of M. collaris , which was later revalidated as a full species, Bogert 194). A recent specimen, confirmed by genetic monophyly ( Portillo et al. 2018) was collected from northeast Angola.

Bi-colored Quill-snouted Snake

Xenocalamus bicolor machadoi ( Laurent 1954) Xenocalamus bicolor machadoi Laurent, 1954 . Reptiles et batraciens de la région de Dundo ( Angola) (Deuxième note). Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Publicações Culturais, No. 2: 45.

First recorded from Angola by Boulenger (1905) on a specimen from between Benguela and Bihé (= Bié Province) collected by Anchieta, but mistakenly assigned to Xenocalamus mechowii, Peters. Laurent (1954) described Xenocalamus bicolor machadoi from Dundo, including Boulenger’s (1905) material. Broadley (1971a) reviewed the genus and recognized four subspecies in X. bicolor and two in X. mechowii (see below). Genetic material is required to re-assess the status of these races.

Elongate Quill-snouted Snake

Xenocalamus mechowii ( Peters 1881)

Xenocalamus mechowii Peters, 1881 . Zwei neue von Herrn Major von Mechow während seiner letzten Expedition nach West-Afrika entdeckte Schlangen und eine Übersicht der von ihm mitgebrachten herpetologischen Sammlung. Sitzungsber. Ges. naturf. Freunde, Berlin 1881(9): 147.

Described by Peters (1881) from “Macange, WestAfrika.” Wallach et al. (2014) corrected the type locality to Malanje (see above). Bocage (1895) overlooked Peters (1881) description and did not discuss the genus in Angola. Witte and Laurent (1947) described X. m. inornatus from northern Namibia, and Laurent (1954) noted the second Angolan specimen of X. m. mechowi from Sombo. Broadley (1971a) continued to recognize both subspecies, but had no additional Angolan material. Branch and McCarthy (1992) recorded the first Angolan record of the southern race from near Lupire. The status of the X. mechowii subspecies has not been genetically assessed.