Bitis atropos unicolor FitzSimons, 1959

Conradie, Werner, Branch, William R. & Watson, Gillian, 2019, Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata), Zootaxa 4576 (1), pp. 1-45 : 32

Bitis atropos unicolor FitzSimons, 1959

Annals of the Transvaal Museum, 23:409.

Holotype: PEM R8220 (formerly AMG 1251 ); Witpoort, about 20 miles north of Belfast , Mpumalanga Province, South Africa; Mr. R. Gerhart, date unknown.

Paratypes (3): a) PEM R8219 (formerly AMG 1421 ) and PEM R8221 (formerly AMG 1402 ); both with same collection details as holotype. b ) PEM R8218 (formerly AMG 1735 ); Witbooi, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa; Mr. R. Gerhart, date unknown .

Remarks. The labels on the holotype and one paratype read: “Doornkop near Belfast ”, but the locality is listed as “Witpoort, about 20 miles north of Belfast in the description. In the description, FitzSimons (1959: 409) only lists the holotype (AMG 1251) and two paratypes (AMG 1402 & TMP 5906), under the heading “Types and refers to the other two (AMG 1421 & 1735) as additional material. Later he refers to all the material as paratypes under the measurements table (FitzSimons 1959: 409). We thus regard all the material as being types. Under ‘Types’ he refers to one paratype as ‘TM 5906’, but then as ‘AM 5906’ under measurements. This is in error as the original TMP specimen labels reads ‘TM 5906 previously AMG 1049’ and was donated to TMP by AMG. AMG 1421 is unaccounted for in the PEM. All specimens are in good condition.