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Philothamnus heterodermus (HALLOWELL, 1857)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Emerald Green Snake, Variable Green Snake 
SynonymChlorophis heterodermus HALLOWELL 1857: 54
Ahaetulla heteroderma — GÜNTHER 1863: 285
Philothamnus heterodonta — SAUVAGE 1884: 201 (in error)
Chlorophis heterodermus — BOULENGER 1894: 97
Chlorophis heterodermus — GÜNTHER 1895: 528
Chlorophis heterodermus — STERNFELD 1917
Chlorophis cyaneus HECHT 1929
Chlorophis heterodermus — LOVERIDGE 1936
Philothamnus heterodermus heterodermus — LOVERIDGE 1958: 63
Chlorophis heterodermis [sic] — TAYLOR & WEYER 1958
Philothamnus heterodermus — HUGHES 1985
Philothamnus heterodermus — RÖDEL et al. 1999
Philothamnus heterodermus — BÖHME et al. 2011: 59
Philothamnus heterodermus — TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014
Philothamnus heterodermus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 555
Philothamnus heterodermus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 488 
DistributionAngola, Zaire, Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire; except in the south), Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Uganda, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Tanzania, Republic of South Sudan (RSS)

Type locality: Gabon.
Type locality: Aioshöhe am Nyong, Kamerun [Chlorophis cyaneneus]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.10.27 (and possibly additional specimens).
Holotype: ZMB 30694; Aioshöhe am Nyong, Kamerun [Cameroon]. leg.Reichenau, (= Reichenow) S[ammler] G[eber] (= collector and donator) [Chlorophis cyaneus] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy: Herpetaethiops Bellii GÜNTHER 1866: 27 has been removed from the synonymy of P. heterodermus by Trape & Baldé 2014.

Subspecies: Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus and Philothamnus heterodermus ruandae are now considered as full species (Hughes 1985). However, the validity of the two (sub-) species has been questioned (RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000).

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Group and key: Trape et al. 2021 provided a key to the members of the Philothamnus heterodermus group in which they include brunneus, carinatus, bellii, ruandae, heterodermus, and mayombensis.

Distribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022. 
References
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