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Philothamnus nitidus (GÜNTHER, 1863)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPhilothamnus nitidus loveridgei LAURENT 1960
Philothamnus nitidus nitidus (GÜNTHER 1865) 
Common NamesE: Green Bush Snake, Cameroons Wood Snake 
SynonymAhaetulla nitida GÜNTHER 1863: 286 (part.)
Ahaetulla lagoensis GÜNTHER 1872: 26 (fide BOULENGER 1894)
Philothamnus nitidus — BOULENGER 1894: 100
Philothamnus nitidus — SCHMIDT 1923: 78
Philothamnus semivariegatus nitidus — LOVERIDGE 1958: 119
Philothamnus nitidus — HUGHES 1985: 520
Philothamnus nitidus — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Philothamnus nitidus — TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014
Philothamnus nitidus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 557
Philothamnus nitidus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 492

Philothamnus nitidus nitidus (GÜNTHER 1865)
Philothamnus nitidus nitidus — TRAPE & ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995: 39
Philothamnus nitidus nitidus — ENGELBRECHT et al. 2018

Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei LAURENT 1960
Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei LAURENT 1960: 40
Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 30
Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei — MARQUES et al. 2018
Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei — BRANCH et al. 2019
Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei — PAUWELS & COLYN 2023: 83 
DistributionCentral African Republic, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire; except in the south), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Liberia, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea

loveridgei: S Central African Republic, Zaire, Burundi, W Kenya, W Tanzania, Angola; Type locality: Itula, Kivu, Zaire. Originally “Demerara”, in error, corrected to “Lagos” [Nigeria] by Boulenger (1894:101] fide Wallach et al. (2014:546) and “not known”.

Type locality: “Cameruns” [Philothamnus nigrofasciatus]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.10.28, an 813 mm male. {plus 1946.1.10.24 fide Hughes = 2 syntypes}
Syntypes: BMNH 1946.1.10.24 (collector Col. E. Sabine) and BMNH 1946.1.6.2 (formerly BMNH 71.4.21.5) (collector unknown) [loveridgei] 
Diagnosis 
CommentNot listed in the Zoological Record of 1865.

Synonymy: Branch et al. 2019 list Philothamnus nitidus loveridgei for Angola, but then say that this subspecies has “been shown to lack genetic support for recognition (Engelbrecht et al. 2018) and are now not recognised.”

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

Distribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022. 
References
  • Angel, Fernand 1925. Résultats Scientifiques. Vertebrata. Reptiles et Batraciens. [Mabuia (Mabuiopsis) jeanneli, Lygosoma graueri quinquedigitata, Ablepharus massaiensis]. In: Voyage de Ch. Alluaud et R. Jeannel en Afrique Orientale (1911-1912). - Paris, 2: 1-63.
  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Branch, William R.; Pedro Vaz Pinto, Ninda Baptista, and Werner Conradie 2019. The Reptiles of Angola: History, Diversity, Endemism and Hotspots. Chapter 13 in: B. J. Huntley et al. (eds.), Biodiversity of Angola. Springer Verlag, pp. 283-334 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
  • 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.
  • Engelbrecht, H.M., Branch, W.R., Greenbaum, E., Alexander, G.J., Jackson, K., Burger, M., Conradie, W., Kusamba, C., Zassi-Boulou, A-G., Tolley, K.A. 2018. Diversifying into the branches: species boundaries in African green and bush snakes, Philothamnus (Serpentes: Colubridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 130: 357-365 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1863. On some species of tree-snakes (Ahaetulla). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 11: 283-287. - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1872. Seventh account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 9: 13-37 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1985. Progress on a taxonomic revision of African green tree snakes (Philothamnus spp.). In: Schuchmann, K.L. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on African Vertebrates. ZFMK, Bonn, pp. 511-530
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • Jesus, J.; Nagy, Z.; Branch, W.; Wink, M.; Brehm, A. & Harris, D. J. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships of African green snakes (genera Philothamnus and Hapsidophrys) from São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobon islands based on mtDNA sequences and comments on their colonization and taxonomy. The Herpetological Journal 19: 41-48 - get paper here
  • Laurent, R.F. 1960. Notes complémentaires sur les Chéloniens et les Ophidiens du congo oriental. Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge (Sci. Zool.), 84: 1-86
  • Loveridge, A. 1938. On a collection of reptiles and amphibians from Liberia. Proc. New England Zool. Club 17: 49-74
  • Loveridge,A. 1958. Revision of five african snake genera. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 119: 1-198 (141) - get paper here
  • Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
  • Pauwels, O. S., & Colyn, M. 2023. On a Collection of Snakes from Bengamisa, Right Bank of the Congo River, Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 58(6), 81-92
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1875. Über die Hrn. Professor Dr. R. Buchholz in Westafrika gesammelten Amphibien. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1875 (März): 196-212 - 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
  • 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
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Trape, J.F. & R. ROUX-ESTÈVE 1990. Note sur une collection de serpents du Congo avec description d'une espèce nouvelle. Rev. Zool. Afr. (J. Afr. Zool.) 104: 375-383
  • Trape, J.F. & R. ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995. Les serpents du Congo: liste commentée et clé de détermination. Journal of African Zoology 109 (1): 31-50
  • 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
  • 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. 1897. Über Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun und Tunis aus dem Kgl. Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges., Wien 47: 395-407 - get paper here
 
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