Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor Günther, 1868

Baptista, Ninda L., António, Telmo & Branch, William R., 2019, The herpetofauna of Bicuar National Park and surroundings, southwestern Angola: a preliminary checklist, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 203) 13 (2), pp. 96-130 : 119

Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor Günther, 1868

Slender Quill-snouted Snake ( Fig. 33A–B )

Material: Two unlabelled specimens in the private collection of Carmira Farm.

Comment: Xenocalamus bicolor is only recorded in Angola from a northern subspecies described in the northeast of the country, X. b. machadoi (see Broadley 1971; Branch 2018; Marques et al. 2018). It occurs in the Zambezi Region and adjacent western Zambia, and it is usually associated with Kalahari sands (Branch et al. 2019). Its presence was considered to be likely for southeastern Angola (Branch et al. 2019), and this record is the first for the country. The presence of supraoculars separating the frontals from contacting the orbit ( Fig. 33B ), conforms to X. b. bicolor , as does the number of ventrals (204, 233) [ Broadley 1971]. Xenocalamus b. bicolor is known to have great intraspecific variation in coloration, and this feature is rarely diagnostic ( Broadley 1971). The patterns of both Carmira Farm specimens resemble the “ maculatus ” phase described by Broadley (1971), but more heavily marked ( Fig. 33A ).

Figures

Fig. 33. Xenocalamus bicolor bicolor, Carmira Farm. (A) Full specimen; (B) dorsal view of head.