Psammophylax togoensis ( Matschie, 1893 )

Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude, Trape, Jean François, David, Patrick, Ohler, Annemarie, Dubois, Alain & Glitho, Isabelle Adolé, 2011, The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems, Zoosystema 33 (3), pp. 325-360 : 347

Psammophylax togoensis ( Matschie, 1893)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 27 specimens (Cameroon: MNHN 1972.0151 - 0153 , Wakwa [ Ngaoundere ]; MNHN 2002.0944 Ghata [Mungo Vill.]; Ivory Coast: MNHN 1977.0420 - 0429 , MNHN 1990.4777 and MNHN 1995.9508 , Lamto ; Guinea: MNHN 1904.421 , no specific locality; DRC [Democratic Republic of Congo]: MRAC 20445 [type of Rhamphiophis garambensis de Witte, 1959 ], Gangala; MRAC 30785-30790 , National Park of Garamba; Togo: ZMB 13249, ZMB 11237 and ZMB 13828, no specific locality; no locality: MNHN 1990.4771 ) .

MORPHOLOGY. — TL from 232 to 686 mm; rostral scale very prominent and well visible from above; 17 MSR, smooth; 170-181 Ven, smooth; 57-72 Sc, paired; anal divided; 7-8 supralabials; 9 infralabials; 2 preoculars; 2 postoculars; temporal scale formula 2 + 3.

DISTRIBUTION. — Very little is known on the status and distribution of this taxon. It was described by Matschie (1893) from Togo without a precise locality as Rhamphiophis togoensis . Werner (1898), Sternfeld (1908b), Roman (1984) and Chippaux (2006) also mentioned its presence in Togo. However, the lack of preserved specimens with a precise locality makes it impossible to describe exactly the distribution of this subspecies and the evaluation of its taxonomic status.

REMARK

Broadley (1971b) and Chirio & Ineich (1991) maintained R. acutus togoensis as a subspecies of Rhamphiophis acutus (Günther, 1888) . We compared the characters of specimens referred to the subspecies R. acutus togoensis to those of the subspecies Rhamphiophis acutus acutus on the basis of the following specimens: Angola: BMNH 1945.1.2.81, Pungo Andongo; Congo: MNHN 1896.0069; Gabon (un- certain according to Pauwels & Vande Weghe 2008): MNHN 1933.0170; RDC: MRAC 18611-18615, Mont Katanga. Results are presented in Table 2.

In spite of the limited sample of the taxon acutus available to us, we can separate Psammophylax acutus (Günther, 1888) from Psammophylax togoensis ( Matschie, 1893) both on the basis of constant morphological characters, such as the presence of ventrolateral stripes, and of their geographical distribution. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test, implemented in SPSS 16.0 to compare the difference between the two species in the “BL/TaL ” variable, shows a significant difference between the two samples (Mann-Whitney U test: X2 = 31.00; P = 0.03; P <0.05). Based on these results, we follow Chirio & Lebreton (2007) in considering the taxon togoensis to be a valid species. Recently, Ramphiophis acutus was referred to the genus Psammophylax Fitzinger, 1843 by Kelly et al. (2008).