Philothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882

Santos, Bruna S., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2021, Herpetological results of Francisco Newton’s Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903 – 1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection, Zootaxa 5028 (1), pp. 1-80 : 34

Philothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882

Material (one specimen): One adult specimen (MHNCUP/REP 182, formerly UP-MHNFCP-017392; Fig. S74 ), collected from unknown locality, date unknown.

Comments: Philothamnus angolensis is a generalist species that inhabits both subtropical forest and savanna biomes and has a widespread distribution in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in most of Angola with the exception of the southwestern desert ( Marques et al. 2018; Engelbrecht et al. 2019). Marques et al. (2018) commented that Angolan records of Philothamnus irregularis (Leach, 1819) correspond mainly to P. angolensis and Philothamnus hoplogaster (Günther, 1863) . Ferreira (1904) cited an adult specimen from “Chingo” as “ Philothamnus irregularis var angolensis ” that exhibited an exceptional number of temporal scales, 2+2 (MHNCUP/REP 197, see account below) and a “blueish green” specimen of “ Philothamnus irregularis ” from “Cambondo” with 1+1 temporal scales ( Ferreira 1906). An additional specimen, without locality, was also cited as “ Philothamnus Guntheri ” (a synonym of P. angolensis ) with 1+1 temporal scales. Upon analysis, we believe the extant specimen does not represent any of the published records, as it has 1+2 temporal scales. Engelbrecht et al. (2019) recently reported P. angolensis as a species differentiated by morphological characteristics supported by genetic analysis.

Figures

FIGURE S74. Specimen of Philotamnus angolensis (MHNCUP/REP 182), from unknown locality. Photo by Bruna Santos.