Philothamnus hoplogaster (Günther, 1863)

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 : 258

Philothamnus hoplogaster (Günther, 1863)

Green Water Snake ( Fig. 14 , Map 12)

Material: PEM R 23392, Malova Village next to Mipanha River, Huíla Province, -14.09140° 16.41476°, 1,569 m asl; PEM R 23999, Lake Tchanssengwe, Moxico, -12.41402° 18.64418°, 1,393 m asl; PEM R 27375, Luvu River camp, Moxico Province, -13.71200° 21.83538°, 1,082 m asl. Description: Dorsal scales smooth and in 15 rows at midbody; 157–158 smooth ventrals; 79–88 paired subcaudals; 1 preocular; 2–3 postoculars; temporals 1+1; supralabials 8, with 4 th and 5 th entering the orbit; 9 infralabials, the first five in contact with the anterior chin shield; cloacal scale divided. Largest female: 420 + 63 mm ( PEM R 27375); largest male: 290 + 130 mm (truncated; PEM R 23992). Habitat and natural history notes: Found near waterbodies in Miombo woodland. One specimen had a Kassina senegalensis in its stomach. Comment: Among all the green snakes collected from the study area, only three specimens were assignable to typical P. hoplogaster . Often confused with P. angolensis and P. heterolepidotus , with which they share a similar temporal arrangement (1 + 1), but this species differs in the number of supralabials (2 vs. 3) entering the orbit and the absence of any ventral keeling (vs. weakly keeled in the other two). In a recent phylogenetic study of Philothamnus , a single Angolan sample was used from Lunda-Sul Province ( Engelbrecht et al. 2019). These records represent the first for Moxico Province and south-eastern Angola, but records are known from adjacent western Zambia ( Broadley 1971). This species was found sympatrically with P. heterolepidotus at Luvu River.

Figures

Fig. 14. Philothamnus hoplogaster from Luvu River. Photo by Werner Conradie.