Telescopus obtusus (REUSS, 1834)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Telescopus obtusus?
Telescopus obtusus
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Egyptian Catsnake G: Ägyptische Katzennatter |
| Synonym | Coluber obtusus REUSS 1834: 137 Telescopus obtusus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1056 Tarbophis obtusus — BOULENGER 1895 Tarbophis obtusus — WERNER 1919 Tarbophis obtusus — SCORTECCI 1932 Telescopus dhara obtusus — PARKER 1949 Telescopus dhara obtusus — LOVERIDGE 1955 Telescopus dhara obtusus — MARX 1956 Telescopus dhara obtusus — SOCHUREK 1979 Telescopus obtusus — BÖHME 1989 Telescopus obtusus — SCHLEICH, KÄSTLE & KABISCH 1996: 524 Telescopus dhara obtusus — BONS & GENIEZ 1996 Telescopus obtusus — CHIPPAUX 2001: 155 Telescopus obtusus — CHIPPAUX 2006: 161 Telescopus obtusus — TRAPE & MANÉ 2006: 162 Telescopus obtusus — VENCHI & SINDACO 2006: 293 Telescopus dhara obtusus — CROCHET et al. 2008 Telescopus obtusus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 712 Telescopus obtusus — ŠMÍD et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia [HR 31: 58], Eritrea [HR 31: 58], Sudan, Somalia, N Kenya, Tanzania [HR 31: 58], Central African Republic, Chad, Uganda Type locality: Egypt |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Lectotype: SMF 19664 (formerly 9053a) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: An northern African form of Telescopus with the following characters combination: head broad, usually well separated from body, longer than in tripolitanus, shorter than in dhara, with sub-rectangular snout; head never darker than body; pileus uniform or with dark lines or spots; a dark longitudinal line along head side (along upper edge of supralabials) apparently present in life in all or most specimens but sometimes difficult to see in preserved specimens; supralabials pale before the eye, pale with dark upper edge after the eye; body coloration pale to dark, creamy-brown, olive-brown, yellowish- to orange-brown; dorsum either uniform or with more than 50 dark blotches, sometimes poorly marked but separated by contrasting narrow (1 scale wide) pale transverse lines as in dhara, sometimes with contrasting rectangular or oblique dark blotches (pale brown to dark brown); flanks rather uniform or, in the blotched morph, with two rows of dark spots, of similar coloration to the marks on dorsum; belly uniformly pale. Mid-body scale rows 21 – 23, most often 23 (up to 25 according to Parker, 1949); ventral scales 240–270 in our small sample (230 – 278 according to Parker, 1949), 61–87 paired subcaudal scales in our small sample (down to 57 according to Parker, 1949); anal plate usually divided (Parker, 1949). 9–11 (sometime 8 on one side) upper labials, usually 10 or 11, of which three (usually 4, 5, 6), sometimes two on one side, touch the eye. For separation from tripolitanus and gezirae see these species. Separated from dhara by differences in frequency of specimens with divided anal (common in obtusus, rare in dhara), 22 or 23 dorsal scales rows (approx. 75% in obtusus, very rare in dhara), and 10 or 11 supralabials (approx. 76% in obtusus, 6% in dhara). None of these characters is diagnostic alone, but differences in head shape, body coloration and coloration pattern of head allow unambiguous assignment of all individuals that we seen in pictures or as specimens. For separation from somalicus, see that taxon below. Note: there seems to be some geographical components in the variation in coloration. Most Egyptian specimens except in the south are uniform or weakly contrasted (own observation, Baha El Din pers. com.) while the blotched morph is apparently the most common form in extreme southern Egypt (pictures from Aswan and Gebel Elba) southward (Ethiopia, Sudan, Djibouti) and in central Sahara (Southern Algeria, Chad). (Crochet et al. 2008) |
| Comment | Venomous, but usually not dangerous to humans. Synonymy: Leptodira tripolitana WERNER 1909 has been removed from the synonymy of T. (dhara) obtusus and is now considered as valid species, Telescopus tripolitanus. Distribution: See maps in Schleich et al. 1996: 526, Geniez 2016: 204, Crochet et al. 2008: 30 (Fig. 2), Šmíd et al. 2019: 39 (Fig. 1). Reports from Libya westwards (Morocco, Algeria (Joger in Böhme et al.), Tunisia [gabesi = gabesiensis], Mali?, N Nigeria?, Sierra Leone) belong probably to T. tripolitanus (as T. guidimakaensis; see Geniez et al. 2004). Spawls et al. 2018 apparently considered this species as a synonym of T. dhara. Type species: Coluber obtusus REUSS 1834: 137 is the type species of the genus Telescopus WAGLER 1830. Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| References |
|
| External links |