AIzaSyAuJVPwNWvpDvUbpmqbZFnPgBC05Kg7mpw

You are here » home › advanced search › Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis

Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis (REINHARDT, 1843)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis?

Add your own observation of
Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis »

We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Serpentes (snakes) 
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymDipsas hippocrepis REINHARDT 1843
Heterurus hippocrepis — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1177
Leptodeira hippocrepis — GRAY 1858: 161
Leptodira hotamboeia — BOULENGER 1896: 90 (not LAURENTI)
Leptodira hitamboeia [sic] — WERNER 1899
Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia — CHABANAUD 1921: 469 (not LAURENTI) (part.)
Crotaphopeltis acarina ROMAN 1974
Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis - RASMUSSEN 1985: 126
Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis - RASMUSSEN 2000 
DistributionUpper Volta (Burkina Faso), Cameroon (fide JOGER 1982), Central African Republic, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Nigeria.

Type locality: Danish settlement on the coast of Guinea, near Accra, [now] Ghana. Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
TypesHolotype: ZMUC R63127 
CommentCrotaphopeltis hippocrepis has been synonymized with C. hotamboeia by BOULENGER 1896. Reports from Tanzania need confirmation (see RASMUSSEN 2000).

DIAGNOSIS: A West and Central African savanna species of Crotaphopeltis with the following character combination: 19 scale rows at mid-body, scales in more or less oblique rows anteriorly, smooth allover the body; 12-16 + II + 1 maxillary teeth; 44-58 (male) and 39-54 (female) subcaudals; hemipenis extending to subcaudal scute No. 8-12 and provided with two enlarged spines proximally; dorsum various shades of brown, without white specks; occiput white in juveniles; temples with a dark brown mark extending to posterior jaw, covering the last two to five infralabials with pigment; venter and underside of tail white, cream or yellowish, latter often with median stripe [from RASMUSSEN et al. 2000]. 
References
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Branch Bill 2005. Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia (Laurenti, 1768) Herald Snake - Maximum size. African Herp News (38): 25.
  • Chirio, L. 2009. Inventaire des reptiles de la région de la Réserve de Biosphère Transfrontalière du W (Niger/Bénin/Burkina Faso: Afrique de l’Ouest). [Herpetological survey of the W Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve area (Niger/Benin/Burkina Faso: West Africa] Bull. Soc. Herp. France (132): 13-41 - get paper here
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Chirio, Laurent and Ivan Ineich 2006. Biogeography of the reptiles of the Central African Republic. African Journal of Herpetology 55(1):23-59. - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C., BIBRON, G. & DUMÉRIL, A. H. A., 1854. Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536 - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1858. Description of a new genus of Boidae from Old Calabar and a list of W. African Reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1858: 154-167 - get paper here
  • Joger, U. 1982. Zur Herpetofaunistik Kameruns (II). Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 33 (2-4): 313-319 - get paper here
  • Rasmussen J B 1985. A new species of Crotaphopeltis from east Africa, with remarks on the identity of Dipsas hippocrepis Reinhardt, 1843 (Serpentes: Boiginae). Steenstrupia 11(4): 113-129
  • Rasmussen, J.B. & B. Hughes 1996. Description of some new snake species. I. [English translation of the original Danish text of T. Reinhardt 1843]. Steenstrupia 22: 13-39
  • Rasmussen, Jens Bodtker; Chirio, Laurent; and Ineich, Ivan 2000. The Herald Snakes (Crotaphopeltis) of the Central African Republic, Including a Systematic Review of C. hippocrepis. Zoosystema 22(3):585-600
  • Reinhardt, J. T. 1843. Beskrivelse af nogle nye Slangearter. Danske Vidensk. Selsk. Afhandl. 10: 233-279.
  • Segniagbeto G. 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
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mane, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp.
  • 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
  • Werner, F. 1899. Ueber Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun und Deutsch-Neu-Guinea grösstentheils aus dem k. Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 49: 132-157
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator