Bitis (Macrocerastes) gabonica (Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854)

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 : 270

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13259227
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/038A87D3-FFC6-FFA7-FF24-FB5AFE0D59DF
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Bitis (Macrocerastes) gabonica (Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854)
status

Treatment

Bitis (Macrocerastes) gabonica (Duméril, Bibron, and Duméril, 1854) View in CoL

Gaboon Adder ( Fig. 35 View Fig , Map 34)

Material: PEM R23374 , near Samunanga village, Moxico Province, -12.89228° 18.8605°, 1,363 m asl; Sight record, road east of Luena , -13.17558° 21.17988°, ~ 1,146 m asl. Additional photographic records :

22 km east of Longa, Cuando Cubango Province, -14.68680° 18.66540°, John Mendelson; 2.8 km south-east of Longa, Cuando Cubango Province, -14.61600° 18.50380°, John Mendelson; Cusseque/Chitembo, Bié Province, -13.51863° 16.75419°, Manfred Finckh. Description: Dorsal scales heavily keeled, in 42 rows at midbody; 129 smooth ventrals; 29 paired subcaudals; 13–15 interorbitals; 4 interoculabials; 15 circumorbitals; 15 supralabials; 19 infralabials, the first four in contact with the anterior chin shield; cloacal scale entire. Size male: 1,100 + 135 mm ( PEM R 23374). Habitat and natural history notes: This specimen was caught in a pitfall trap dug by the locals for catching animals in the Angolan Miombo woodland. Comment: Previously, this species was mostly known from northern Angola, with some records from Benguela and Moxico provinces ( Marques et al. 2018), later being recorded as far south as Caimbambo, Benguela Province ( Oliveira et al. 2016) and Tchivinguiro, Huíla Province (Branch, unpub. data). The new records from this study as well as unpublished TM records, virtual museum records (ReptileMap 166065; iNaturalist 33760143, 34126489), and photographic records (J. Mendelsohn) extend the distribution of this species as far south as Longa in Cuando Cubango Province, filling the gap between the northern and southern records. The new material documented from this study is the first for south-eastern Angola and the Okavango Delta system.