Ditypophis vivax Günther, 1881

Razzetti, Edoardo, Sindaco, Roberto, Grieco, Cristina, Pella, Francesca, Ziliani, Ugo, Pupin, Fabio, Riservato, Elisa, Pellitteri-Rosa, Daniele, Butikofer, Luca, Suleiman, Ahmed Saeed & Al-Aseily, Badar Awadh, 2011, Annotated checklist and distribution of the Socotran Archipelago Herpetofauna (Reptilia), Zootaxa 2826, pp. 1-44 : 18

Ditypophis vivax Günther, 1881

Ditypophis vivax Günther, 1881: 462 —Locus typicus: “ Socotra ”. Ditypophis vivax .— Peters, 1882b: 46.

Didypophis [sic] [ vivax ].— Dowling & Duellman, 1978: 112b.l. Ditypophis vivax .— Leviton & Aldrich, 1984: XXIII.

This species is regarded as a nocturnal species ( Rösler & Wranik, 2004), and our data agree with this reference as active individuals were found only during nocturnal transects. Inactive specimens were recorded during day, resting under stones. Ditypophis vivax is not “confined to the mountainous regions” as reported by Rösler & Wranik (2004) as we collected it also in several localities at low altitude including Temedeh (10 m a.s.l.) along North-Eastern coast and Wadi Di Fa’ar North of Mahfirhin (42 m a.s.l.) in Eastern Noged; our highest altitude record is Wadi Zeriq (870 m) in the Diksam Plateau.

Habitat. We observed the species in sparse Croton and Jatropha bushlands, stone walls in date palm groves and stony slopes.

Original data. Fig. 31. NE Coast, Homhil, Momi plateau, E Noged, Firmihin, Dheroh, SW Diksam, Plateau W of Qabhete, Ma'alah plateau, Qalansiyah, Ghubbah area, Wadi Ayhaft.

Bibliographic data. Boulenger (1903), Steindachner (1903), Parker (1949), Corkill (1962), Wranik (1998b), Schätti & Desvoignes (1999), Rösler & Wranik (2004).

General distribution. Endemic to Socotra Island.

Remarks. A drawing of the maxilla is available in Parker (1949), while a representation the hemipenis is present in Rösler & Wranik (2004). The molecular investigations by Nagy et al. (2003) allocated Ditypophis in the subfamily Pseudoxyrhophiinae , later included by Zaher et al. (2009) in the family Lamprophiidae .