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Afronatrix anoscopus (COPE, 1861)

IUCN Red List - Afronatrix anoscopus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae (Natricinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: African Brown Water Snake 
SynonymTropidonotus anoscopus COPE 1861: 299
Tropidonotus ferox GÜNTHER 1863: 355
? Natrix anoscopus — COPE 1892: 673
? Tropidonotus anoscopus — BOULENGER 1893: 242
Tropidonotus ferox — BOULENGER 1893: 355
Tropidonotus ferox — KAPTOZ 1913: 285
Helicops gendrii BOULENGER 1910: 512
Natrix ferox — BOGERT 1940: 32
Natrix anoscopus anoscopus — LOVERIDGE 1941: 118
Natrix anoscopus gendrii — VILLIERS 1950: 35
Natrix firestonei TAYLOR & WEYER 1958
Natrix anoscopus — MENZIES 1966
Afronatrix anoscopus — ROSSMAN & EBERLE 1977: 42
Natrix anoscopus — HOOGMOED 1980
Afronatrix anoscopus — CHIPPAUX 1999
Afronatrix anoscopus — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Afronatrix anoscopus — TRAPE & MANE 2004
Afronatrix anoscopus — TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014
Afronatrix anoscopus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 13
Afronatrix anoscopus — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022 
DistributionLiberia, Sierra Leone, S Senegal (HR 26: 156), Ivory Coast, SW Burkina Faso, Guinea (Conakry), Mali, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Equatorial Guinea

Type locality: see comment  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 6639 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus). A genus of natricine snakes characterized by having: the dorsal scales in 21 rows or more, a single pair of anterior temporals, the anal plate divided, and keeled subcaudals; the palatine with a short spur extending medially toward the vomerine process, and the supratemporal considerably shortened; the hemipenis moderately bilobed with a simple sinistral sulcus and the nude apical area not very extensive. (Rossman & Eberle 1977: 42).


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CommentType locality: Originally (erroneously) reported from Cuba.

Type species: Tropidonotus anoscopus COPE 1861 is the type species of the genus Afronatrix ROSSMAN & EBERLE 1977.

Synonymy: after CHIPPAUX 1999 and J. Hallermann, pers. comm., 19 Sep 2014.

Abundance: “Afronatrix anoscopus is by far the most dominant snake species in the rainforest of southeastern Guinea. At Gborola, a native villager collected 50 specimens within only a few hours in a 100 m section of the Bougolo stream (Trape et al. 2008). The extraordinary high density of A. anoscopus in many West African streams and data on prey items suggest that A. anoscopus is the most important predator of fish in such ecosystems (Trape et al. 2008). A female from Sangalabadou (IRD 4120.G) measured 798 mm total length (snout-vent length: 617 mm), a new record size for this species” (TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014, s. also Böhme 2000).

Distribution: for a map of the genus see Deepak et al. 2021: Fig. 1. For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Phylogenetics: for a phylogenetic analysis of Sub-saharan Natricine genera see Deepak et al. 2021. 
References
  • Bohme, W. 2000. Diversity of a snake community in a Guinea rain forest (Reptilia, Serpentes). Bonner Zool. Monogr. 46: 69-78 - get paper here
  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Briscoe, M.S. 1949. Notes on Snakes Collected in Liberia. Copeia 1949 (1): 16-18 - get paper here
  • Cadle, John E. 1994. The colubrid radiation in Africa (Serpentes: Colubridae): phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary patterns based on immunological data. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 110: 103-140 - get paper here
  • Chippaux, Jean-Philippe & Kate Jackson 2019. Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, 448 pp. [detaileld review in HR 51 (1): 161] - get paper here
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • CHIRIO, L., & INEICH, I. 2009. Afronatrix anoscopus (Cope, 1861). Afr. Herp News (47): 44-45
  • Cope, E.D. 1861. Contributions to the ophiology of Lower California, Mexico and Central America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 13: 292-306 - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1892. A critical review of the characters and variations of the snakes of North America. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 14: 589-694 - get paper here
  • Deepak, V, Simon T Maddock, Rhiannon Williams, Zoltán T Nagy, Werner Conradie, Sara Rocha, D James Harris, et al. 2021. Molecular Phylogenetics of Sub-Saharan African Natricine Snakes, and the Biogeographic Origins of the Seychelles Endemic Lycognathophis seychellensis. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 161: 107152 - get paper here
  • Günther. A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 348 - 365 - get paper here
  • Hoogmoed, M.S. 1980. Herpetologische waarnemingen in Ghana [part 7]. Lacerta 38 (9): 88-95 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • Leaché, Adam D.; Mark-Oliver Rödel, Charles W. Linkem, Raul E. Diaz, Annika Hillers, and Matthew K. Fujita 2006. Biodiversity in a forest island: reptiles and amphibians of the Togo Hills, Kyabobo National Park, Ghana. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 4 (1): 22-45 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, Arthur 1941. Report on the Smithsonian-Firestone Expedition's collection of reptiles and amphibians from Liberia. Proc. US Natl. Mus. 91 (3128): 113-140 - get paper here
  • Luiselli, Luca; Akani, Godfrey C.; Angelici, Francesco M.; Ude, Linda; Wariboko, Sunday M. 2005. Seasonal variation in habitat use in sympatric Afrotropical semi-aquatic snakes, Grayia smythii and Afronatrix anoscopus (Colubridae). Amphibia-Reptilia 26 (3): 372-376 - get paper here
  • Menzies, J.I. 1966. The snakes of Sierra Leone. Copeia 1966 (2): 169-179. - get paper here
  • Monasterio, Camila 2016. The herpetofauna of the Dindefelo Natural Community Reserve, Senegal. Herpetology Notes 9: 1-6 - get paper here
  • PAUWELS, OLIVIER; LAURENT CHIRIO & WOUTER DEKONINCK. 2022. Diet records for snakes from Guinea, West Africa. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 57(6): 117–123. - get paper here
  • Rödel M O; Mahsberg D 2000. Vorläufige Liste der Schlangen des Tai-Nationalparks/Elfenbeinküste und angrenzender Gebiete. Salamandra 36 (1): 25-38 - get paper here
  • Rossman, D. A., and W. G. Eberle 1977. Partition of the genus Natrix, with preliminary observations on evolutionary trends in natricine snakes. Herpetologica 33 (1): 34-43 - get paper here
  • SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS, A., CALVO-REVUELTA, M. & DE LA RIVA, I. 2022. Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea. Zootaxa 5202 (1): 1-197 - get paper here
  • Segniagbeto GLazcano. H., Trape J. F., David P., Ohler A., Dubois A. & Glitho I. A. 2011. The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems. Zoosystema 33 (3): 325-360. DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4 - get paper here
  • Senter, P. J., & Chippaux, J. P. 2022. Biogeography of snakes in Liberia: Review and synthesis of current knowledge. Ghana Journal of Science, 63(1), 29-62 - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1908. Die Schlangenfauna Togos. Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 4: 207-236 - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H.;Weyer, Dora 1958. Report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from Harbel, Republic of Liberia. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (14): 1191-1229 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2004. Les serpents des environs de Bandafassi (Sénégal oriental). Bull. Soc. Herp. France 109: 5-34 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp. - get paper here
  • TRAPE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS & CELLOU BALDÉ 2014. A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa 3900 (3): 301–338 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François; Mané, Youssouph 1995. Afronatrix anoscopus. Herpetological Review 26 (3): 156 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François & Youssouph Mané 2017. The snakes of Mali. Bonn zoological Bulletin 66 (2): 107–133 - get paper here
  • Ullenbruch, K.; Grell, O.; Böhme, W. 2010. Reptiles from southern Benin, West Africa, with the description of a new Hemidactylus (Gekkonidae), and a country-wide checklist. Bonn Zool. Bull. 57 (1): 31-54 - get paper here
  • Villiers, A. 1951. Mission A. Villiers au Togo et au Dahomey (1950) II. - Ophidiens. Etudes Dahoméennes, Centre IFAN 5: 17-46
  • Villiers,A. 1975. Les serpents de l'ouest africain. Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Initiations et Etudes Africaines, no. 2, 3e ed., Dakar.
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Werner, F. 1902. Über westafrikanische Reptilien. Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges. Wien 52: 332-348
 
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