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Psammophis praeornatus (SCHLEGEL, 1837)

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Higher TaxaPsammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPsammophis praeornatus gribinguiensis (ANGEL 1921)
Psammophis praeornatus praeornatus (SCHLEGEL 1837) 
Common NamesE: Ornate Olympic Snake 
SynonymDendrophis praeornatus SCHLEGEL 1837: 236
Philodendros praeornata — FITZINGER 1843: 26
Philodendrus [praeornatus] — AGASSIZ 1846 (unjustified emendation)
Oxyrhopus praeornatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1039
Chrysopelea praeornata — GÜNTHER 1858: 147
Chrysopelea praeornata — GÜNTHER 1865: 95
Dromophis praeornatus — PETERS 1869: 447
Dromophis praeornatus — BOULENGER 1896: 150
Dromophis praeornatus — STERNFELD 1917
Dromophis praeornatus praeornatus — PAPENFUSS 1969
Dromophis praeornatus — TRAPE & MANÉ 2000
Psammophis praeornatus — KELLY et al. 2008
Dromophis praeornatus — HUGHES 2013
Dromophis praeornatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 241

Psammophis praeornatus gribinguiensis (ANGEL 1921)
Dromophis praeornatus var. gribinguiensis ANGEL 1921
Dromophis praeornatus gribinguiensis — LOVERIDGE 1940: 11
Dromophis praeornatus gribinguiensis — PERRET 1961
Dromophis praeornatus gribinguiensis — CHIRIO & INEICH 2006
Psammophis praeornatus gribinguiensis — JACOBSEN 2009 
DistributionSenegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, S Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan (Jumhūriyyat)

Type locality: “Walo, Senegal”

gribinguiensis: Central African Republic; Type locality: “Gribingui Region, French Equatorial Africa”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 7610, a 236 mm male (Perrotet)
Syntypes: MNHN-RA 1921.0022 and MNHN-RA 1921.0023 [gribinguiensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus Dromophis): As described by Boulenger (1896:149,152), Dromophis has a series of 10 or 11 maxillary teeth (since increased to 16 by Bogert 1940), longest in the middle and separated by a diastema from a pair of posterior fangs (Fig. 3a). Psammophis, on the other hand, possesses eight to 13 teeth separated from the fangs by a diastema but not forming a single row: at midlength they are disrupted by two enlarged teeth on either side of which there is a diastema (Fig. 3b). The mandibular dentition is equally distinct: Dromophis has a continuous row of about 22 teeth which decrease in size posteriorly whereas in Psammophis, the first four teeth are enlarged and separated by a diastema from the following 13 to 28 (Hughes 2004).


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CommentSynonymy mostly after BOULENGER 1896. Dromophis was synonymized with Psammophis by KELLY et al. 2008 and Vidal et al. 2008 but is considered as a valid genus by some recent authors. WALLACH et al. 2014 recognize 2 species, D. praeornatus and D. lineatus.

Type species: Dendrophis praeornatus SCHLEGEL 1837: 236 is the type species of the genus Dromophis PETERS 1869. 
EtymologyApparently named after the Latin prae meaning front or anterior part and ornatus meaning ornate, referring to the ornate coloration of the head and neck area in contrast to that of the remainder of the body. 
References
  • Angel, F. 1921. Sur des Reptiles de la Région du Gribingui. Bull. Mus. nat. Hist. nat., Paris 27: 141-142 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1983. Dromophis Peters 1869 (Reptilia, Serpentes): proposed conservation under the plenary powers. Z.N.(S.) 2375. Bull. zool. Nomenclature 40 (3): 189-190 - get paper here
  • 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. 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, 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
  • Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium, fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel, Wien: 106 pp. - get paper here
  • Guibé, J. & Roux-Estève, R. 1972. Les types de Schlegel (Ophidiens) présents dans les collections du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris. Zoologische Mededelingen 47: 129-134 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1858. Catalogue of Colubrine snakes of the British Museum. London, I - XVI, 1 - 281 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1865. Fourth account of new Species of Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 15: 89-98. - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • JACOBSEN, N.H.G. 2009. A contribution to the herpetofauna of the Passendro Area, Central African Republic. African Herp News (47): 2-20 - get paper here
  • Kelly, Christopher M.R.;Nigel P. Barker, Martin H. Villet, Donald G. Broadley and William R. Branch 2008. The snake family Psammophiidae (Reptilia: Serpentes): Phylogenetics and species delimitation in the African sand snakes (Psammophis Boie, 1825) and allied genera. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47 (3): 1045-1060 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1940. Revision of the African snakes of the genera Dromophis and Psammophis. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harvard 87: 1-69 - get paper here
  • Monasterio, Camila 2016. The herpetofauna of the Dindefelo Natural Community Reserve, Senegal. Herpetology Notes 9: 1-6 - get paper here
  • Papenfuss, T. J. 1969. Preliminary analysis of the reptiles of arid central West Africa. Wasmann Journal of Biology 27:249—325 - get paper here
  • Perret, J.L. 1961. Études herpétologiques africaines III. 1. La faune ophidienne de la région camerounaise. Bull. Soc. neuchâtel. Sci. nat., 84: 133-138
  • Peters,W.C.H. 1869. Über neue Gattungen und neue oder weniger bekannte Arten von Amphibien (Eremias, Dicrodon, Euprepes, Lygosoma, Typhlops, Eryx, Rhynchonyx, Elapomorphus, Achalinus, Coronella, Dromicus, Xenopholis, Anoplodipsas, Spilotes, Tropidonotus). Monatsber. k. preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1869: 432-447 - get paper here
  • Schlegel, H. 1837. Essai sur la physionomie des serpens. Partie Descriptive. La Haye (J. Kips, J. HZ. et W. P. van Stockum), 606 S. + xvi - 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
  • Sternfeld, R. 1917. Reptilia und Amphibia. In: Schubotz, H. (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Zweiten Deutschen Zentral-Afrika-Expedition, 1910-1911 unter Führung Adolph Friedrichs, Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, [Band] 1, Zoologie, Lieferung 11; S. 407-510. - get paper here
  • Trape J-F and Mané Y. 2015. The snakes of Niger. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 9(2) [Special Section]: 39–55 (e110) - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2004. Les serpents des environs de Bandafassi (Sénégal oriental). Bull. Soc. Herp. France 109: 5-34 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp. - get paper here
  • 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
  • Trape, Jean-François; Mané, Youssouph 2000. Les serpents des environs de Dielmo (Sine-Saloum, Sénégal). Bull. Soc. Herp. France 95: 19-35 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François & Youssouph Mané 2017. The snakes of Mali. Bonn zoological Bulletin 66 (2): 107–133 - get paper here
  • 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
  • VIDAL, NICOLAS;WILLIAM R. BRANCH, OLIVIER S.G. PAUWELS,, S. BLAIR HEDGES, DONALD G. BROADLEY, MICHAEL WINK, CORINNE CRUAUD, ULRICH JOGER & ZOLTÁN TAMÁS NAGY 2008. Dissecting the major African snake radiation: a molecular phylogeny of the Lamprophiidae Fitzinger (Serpentes, Caenophidia). Zootaxa 1945: 51–66 - 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.
 
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