Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis LOVERIDGE, 1953

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Higher Taxa	Lamprophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Mlanje White-bellied Water-Snake
Synonym	Lycodonomorphus rufulus mlanjensis LOVERIDGE 1953: 253 Lycodonomorphus rufulus mlanjensis — FITZSIMONS 1966 Lycodonomorphus leleupi mlanjensis — MARAIS 2004 Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis — BROADLEY & COTTERILL 2004 Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis — BROADLEY & BLAYLOCK 2013 Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 398 Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis — PIETERSEN et al. 2021
Distribution	E Zimbabwe, S Mozambique, Malawi Type locality: Ruo River, Mlanje Mountain, Nyasaland [= Malawi].
Reproduction	oviparous.
Types	Holotype: MCZ 51050, an adult male; Collected by Arthur Loveridge, April 1, 1949. Paratypes: MCZ 51049 and a duplicate now in British Museum (N.H.), being two males from a stream near Nswadzi River, Cholo Mountain, Nyasaland. Collected on 16 and 22, April, 1949. Also an adult female (British Museum, No. 34.2.1.27), from Zomba, Nyasaland.
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: L. mlanjensis is distinguished from rufulus and all its races except r. leleupi of the Congo, by possessing 21 mid- body scale-rows. From r. leleupi (and laevissimus, of which two individuals with 21 scale-rows have been reported), it is readily distinguished by its immaculate white throat and belly. Diagnosis (original): Though L. r. rufulus is a common South African snake of which many specimens have been collected, only two examples with more than 19 midbody scale-rows have been recorded during the past 125 years. The new form is, therefore, distinguished from all other races of rufulus, except L. r. leleupi Laurent of the Belgian Congo, by its 21 midbody scale-rows, and in addition from r. whytii, the only other race found north of the Zambezi, by its higher number of subcaudals. Its immaculate throat and belly immediately distinguish it from adults of L. r. leleupi and L. laevissimus of South Africa, the only other species in the genus (Loveridge 1953: 253). Description: Loveridge 1953: 254
Comment	Diet: frogs, fish Habitat. aquatic, in swamps, pools, and rivers in montane grassland and savanna.
Etymology	Named after the type locality.
References	Broadley, D. & Blaylock 2013. The Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 387 pp. [book review in Sauria 35 (2): 59 and Copeia 2014: 388] - get paper here Broadley, Donald G. and F. P. D. Cotterill. 2004. The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot'. [Congo]. African Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 35-61. - get paper here Fitzsimons, V. 1966. A check-list, with syntopic keys, to the snakes of southern Africa. Annals Transvaal Museum 25 (3): 35-79 - get paper here Loveridge, A. 1953. Zoological Results of a fifth expedition to East Africa. III. Reptiles from Nyasaland and Tete. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 110 (3): 142-322. - get paper here Marais, J. 2004. A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa, 2nd ed. Struik Publishers, 312 pp. Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373 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.
External links	IUCN Red List Google images

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