Polemon ater PORTILLO, BRANCH, TILBURY, NAGY, HUGHES, KUSAMBA, MUNINGA, ARISTOTE, BEHANGANA & GREENBAUM, 2019
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Polemon ater
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| Higher Taxa | Atractaspididae (Aparallactinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Polemon ater PORTILLO, BRANCH, TILBURY, NAGY, HUGHES, KUSAMBA, MUNINGA, ARISTOTE, BEHANGANA & GREENBAUM 2019 Miodon gabonensis christyi — LOVERIDGE 1944: 170–180 (part) Miodon christyi — LAURENT 1947: 10 (part) Miodon christyi — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 8, 60, 73–75, figs. 67–69 (part) Miodon christyi — DE WITTE 1953: 264–265, fig. 91 Miodon christyi — LAURENT 1955; part): 293 Miodon christyi — LAURENT 1956: 252 Miodon collaris christyi — LOVERIDGE 1957: 283 (part) Miodon christyi — BROADLEY & PITMAN 1960: 437, 447 Miodon christyi — BOURGEOIS 1968: 179, 284 (part) Polemon christyi — BROADLEY 1971: 26, 76 Miodon christyi — PITMAN (1974: part): 135–168, 205, plate M, fig. 3, plate XII. Polemon christyi — WELCH (1982; part): 142. Polemon christyi — HUGHES (1983; part): 316, appendix A Polemon christyi — CHIFUNDERA (1990; part): table 1. Polemon christyi — BROADLEY & HOWELL (1991; part): 29, 35, 62 Polemon christyi — BROADLEY (1998; part): xxx. Polemon christyi — BEHANGANA & GOODMAN (2002; part): 64 Polemon christyi — SPAWLS et al. (2002; part): 426. Polemon christyi — BROADLEY et al. (2003): 95–96, fig. 17 Polemon christyi — BROADLEY & COTTERILL (2004; part): 47, 52. Polemon christyi — SPAWLS et al. (2004; part): 426. Polemon christyi — CHIRIO & INEICH (2006; part): 58. Polemon christyi — LÖTTERS et al. (2007; part): 98–99, plate 12 Polemon christyi — CARO et al. (2011; part): 561. Polemon christyi — WALLACH et al. (2014; part): 561, table 1 Polemon christyi — TILBURY & BRANCH (2014): 36–38, fig. 1 Polemon christyi — SPAWLS et al. (2018; part): 461 |
| Distribution | Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire: Lualaba), Malawi elevation: 1189–1472 m. In Upemba National Park, de Witte (1953) found a male specimen as high as 1810 m. Type locality: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lualaba Province, Fungurume, 10.5338°S, 26.3375°E, 1189 m |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: PEM R20734, subadult male, C. Tilbury, 12 February 2014 (Tilbury and Branch, 2014). Paratype: PEM R17452, adult female, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lualaba Province, Kalakundi, 10.65508S, 25.93258E, 1472 m, W. R. Branch, 25 January 2008. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Polemon ater is a medium to large aparallactine. The dorsum and venter are uniformly grayish black or black, with ventrals and subcaudals each edged posteriorly in silver white, lacking any lighter tones or shades anywhere on the dorsum and lacking a distinct collar; the preocular scale is irregular in shape (somewhat triangular with a rounded top); dorsally the head narrows towards the snout. Cytochrome b and ND4 pairwise sequence divergence rates between P. ater and its closest relative (P. collaris) ranged between 2.5% to 5.3%. |
| Comment | Similar species: P. ater has been split off from populations that were previously called P. christyi. Habitat: in or near Brachystegia (i.e., miombo) woodlands of Lualaba Province, DRC (Fig. 7). The paratype was found dead in a pit in Kalakundi Copper Mine, where it had been killed by mine workers. Specimens from Upemba National Park in south- eastern DRC were found in grassland-miombo woodland habitat near tributaries. Specimens from Zambia were found in miombo woodland and in some cases, there was gallery forest in the vicinity, although none of the specimens were found in gallery forests (Broadley et al., 2003). Diet: snakes, e.g. Afrotyphlops schmidti. Broadley et al. (2003) reported a 806 mm P. ater (as P. christyi) that consumed a 600 mm Crotaphopeltis hotamboeia and a 430 mm P. ater that consumed a 305 mm C. hotamboeia. Distribution: reports from Malawi are from Gary Brown, pers. comm., 10 May 2023. |
| Etymology | Derived from the Latin atrum in reference to the grayish black or black dorsal and ventral coloration that is present in all known specimens of P. ater. |
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