Boaedon fradei HALLERMANN, CERÍACO, SCHMITZ, ERNST, CONRADIE, VERBURGT, MARQUES & BAUER, 2020
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Boaedon fradei
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| Higher Taxa | Lamprophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Frade’s Brown House Snake P: Serpente Castanha de Frade |
| Synonym | Boaedon fradei HALLERMANN, CERÍACO, SCHMITZ, ERNST, CONRADIE, VERBURGT, MARQUES & BAUER 2020: 38 Boaedon lineatus lineatus — LAURENT 1964: 93 [part] Boaedon fuliginosus fuliginosus — MANAÇAS 1973: 58 Boaedon fuliginosus — MARQUES et al. 2018: 329 [part] Boaedon cf. angolensis — CONRADIE et al. 2016: 22 [part] Boaedon fradei — PIETERSEN et al. 2021 |
| Distribution | Angola (Moxico and Lunda Sul), N Botswana, NE Namibia, E Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga [Zaire]), Zambia ? Type locality: source lake of the Quembo River (−13.13544°, 19.04397°, 1 375 m), Moxico Province, Angola |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R23487 (field no. WC-4699) an adult female, collected by Werner Conradie on 1 November 2016. Paratypes: PEM R23486 (field no. WC-4667) a subadult female from the same locality as the holotype, collected by Werner Conradie and Luke Verburgt on 28 October 2016; PEM R23985 an adult male from campsite near to bridge over Lungwebungu River (−12.58013°, 18.66740°, 1 304m), Moxico Province, Angola, collected by Werner Conradie and Alexander Rebelo on 22 April 2018; PEM R19894 (field no. TB29) an adult male from a village nearby Chiri Camp, Saurimo (−9.42333°, 20.45194°, 1 030 m), Lunda Sul Province, Angola, collected on 7 November 2015 by Thomas Branch; IICT 40-1959, unsexed individual collected on 28 October 1959; IICT 5-1959, an adult female collected on 14 January 1959; IICT 341-1959, unsexed adult collected on 1 November 1959; IICT 404-1959, juvenile unsexed collected in 1959; and IICT 410A-1959, unsexed juvenile collected on 17 November 1959. All above IICT specimens from Calombe, Luso (−11.83000°, 19.91660°, 1 362 m) Moxico Province, Angola, and col- lected by Fernando Frade. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Boaedon fradei sp. nov. (Figures 10A, 10B, 11) can be distinguished from most congeners by its dark brown ground colour (in preservative), with two thin white stripes on the side of the head and relatively low ventral scale counts of 193–219 in males Among Angolan congeners, B. fradei sp. nov. differs from B. fuliginosus by having a shorter snout in which the length of the parietals is longer than the distance between the frontal and the end of snout (versus the parietal length is equal to the length between the frontal and end of snout), and the loreal length to height ratio is lower than or equal to 2 (versus greater than 2); it differs from B. angolensis by its dark brown ground colour (in preservative) with two contrasting white head stripes (in preservative; versus grey to olive brown with thin head stripes continuing on first quarter of the sides of the body); it differs from B. branchi sp. nov. by its dark brown ground colour (versus yellowish ground colour and lower 1–3 dorsal scale rows immaculate white). It can be distinguished from B. bocagei sp. nov., by having only two supralabials touching the eye (versus 3). Boaedon fradei sp. nov. may be distinguished from B. variegatus by having a lower number of ventral scale rows (193–221 versus 218–240) and brown body colouration (in preservative) without white or yellowish looping markings in adults (versus white or yellowish looping markings on brown ground colouration); from B. virgatus by having 25–29 MSR (versus 25 or fewer), and an unpigmented venter (versus pigmented venter); from B. mentalis sensu stricto by having the second chin shields in contact with each other (versus second chin shields often completely separated from each other by the anterior chin shields) and dark brown body colouration (in preservative; versus light brown ground colour); and from B. olivaceus by having a double row of subcaudals (versus a single row). Boaedon fradei sp. nov. may be distinguished from other Boaedon occurring in the region by the following combinations of characters: from the nominotypical B. lineatus by its lower number of MSR (25–29 versus 29–31) and by the absence of light stripes on side of the body (versus stripes present on the side of the body); from B. capensis by the short snout (versus the length of the parietals is not much longer than the distance between frontal and end of snout). It can be distinguished from B. littoralis by having 1–2 preoculars (versus only one), preocular in contact with frontal (versus preocular often separate from the frontal); from B. subflavus by having fewer ventral scales in males (193–219 versus 213–229) and females (211–221 versus 234–247), 25–29 MSR (versus >29); from B. perisilvestris by having 25–29 MSR (versus >29) and two supralabials touching eye (versus three); from B. paralineatus by having fewer ventral scales in males (193–219 versus 225–243) and females (211–221 versus 239–250), 25–29 MSR (versus >31), longitudinal light stripes present only on head (versus longitudinal light stripes on head and body); from B. longilineatus by lower ventral scale counts in females (211–221 versus 226–233), and by having no stripes on neck and body and dark brown to olive ground colour (in life) (versus a broad upper head and body stripes reaching first quarter of body and a brown body colouration); from B. upembae by having more ventral scales in males (193–219 versus 175–180) and females (211–221 versus 189– 197), and 25–29 MSR (versus 21–23); and from B. radfordi by having a double row of subcaudals (versus a single row). |
| Comment | Distribution: for localities in Angola see map in Hallermann et al. 2020: 10 (Fig. 2). |
| Etymology | Named after the Portuguese naturalist and first director of the Zoological Section of Junta das Missões Geográficas e de Investigações Coloniais (later renamed Junta de Investigação Científica do Ultramar, and subsequently Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical) Fernando Frade Viegas da Costa (1898–1983), usually known as Fernando Frade, who collected four of the paratypes of this new species. |
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