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Atheris squamigera HALLOWELL, 1854

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Higher TaxaViperidae, Viperinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Variable Bush Viper, African Bush Viper, Rough-scaled Bush Viper
G: Rankschuppige Buschviper 
SynonymAtheris squamigera squamigera (HALLOWELL 1854)
Echis squamigera HALLOWELL 1854: 193
Toxicoa squamata COPE 1859: 341
Atheris squamatus COPE 1862: 337 ?
Poecilostolus burtonii GÜNTHER 1863: 239
Atheris burtonii — GÜNTHER 1863: 16
Atheris polylepis PETERS 1864 fide BROADLEY (in GOLAY 1993)
Atheris Lucani ROCHEBRUNE 1885: 89
Atheris Proximus ROCHEBRUNE 1885: 90
Atheris squamigera — SCHMIDT 1923: 144
Atheris squamigera robusta LAURENT 1956
Atheris squamigera robusta — LAURENT 1958: 128
Atheris squamiger — WELCH 1994: 21
Atheris squamiger — TRAPE & ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995: 45
Atheris squamigera — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 357
Atheris squamigera — LAWSON & USTACH 2000
Atheris squamigera — WALLACH et al. 2014: 62
Atheris squamigera — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 593
Atheris cf. squamigera — SANTOS et al. 2021 
DistributionKenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (incl. Bioko Island), Central African Republic, W/C/E Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Angola, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Republic of South Sudan (RSS) ?

Type locality: near the river Gabon (see comment).  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 6949. Considered lost until it was rediscovered by Lawson and Ustach (2000). 
Diagnosis 
CommentVenomous!

Subspecies and synonymy: Atheris anisolepis has been removed from synonymy with A. squamigera by BROADLEY 1998 but then again synonymized by LAWSON & USTACH (2000). Some of SCHMIDT’s Atheris squamigera may be A. hispida (LAURENT 1956). Atheris subocularis FISCHER 1888 has been removed from synonymy with A. squamigera by LAWSON et al. (2001). BROADLEY 1998 and LAWSON & USTACH (2000) do not recognize any subspecies of A. squamigera.

The type locality was originally given as “near the river Gabon, Guinea”.

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

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