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Telescopus semiannulatus SMITH, 1849

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesTelescopus semiannulatus polystictus MERTENS 1954
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus SMITH 1849 
Common NamesE: Common Tiger Snake, Tiger Cat Snake, Western Tiger Snake
semiannulatus: Eastern Tiger Snake
polystictus: Damara Tiger Snake
G: Getigerte Katzennatter 
SynonymTelescopus semiannulatus SMITH 1849: 72
Telescopus semiannulatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1058
Leptodira semiannulata — GÜNTHER 1888
Tarbophis semiannulatus — STERNFELD 1910: 55
Tarbophis semiannulatus — FITZSIMONS & BRAIN 1958
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus — ROBERTSON et al. 1961
Telescopus semiannulatus — AUERBACH 1987: 185
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus — BOYCOTT 1992
Telescopus semiannulatus — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 31
Telescopus semiannulatus — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 211
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus — PIETERSEN et al. 2013
Telescopus semiannulatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 712
Telescopus semiannulatus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 522
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus — SCHLEICHER 2015
Telescopus semiannulatus semiannulatus — MARQUES et al. 2018
Telescopus semiannulatus — ŠMÍD et al. 2019

Telescopus semiannulatus polystictus MERTENS 1954
Telescopus semiannulatus polystictus MERTENS 1954: 215
Telescopus semiannulatus polystictus — HAACKE 2013
Telescopus semiannulatus polystictus — SCHLEICHER 2015
Telescopus polystictus — BRANCH et al. 2019
Telescopus semiannulatus polystictus — SCHLEICHER 2020 
DistributionAngola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, NE Republic of South Africa, Zambia, W/E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville) ?, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Swaziland, Mozambique

polystictus: Republic of South Africa (Richtersveld, S Damaraland), S Namibia

Type locality: South Africa (by inference).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.2.55 (formerly BMNH 1871.4.21.1) (collector A. Smith) fide Wallach et al. (2014)
Holotype: SMF 46343, male; paratypes: SMF, males and females[polystictus] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1593 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous, but usually not dangerous to humans.

Distribution: Erroneously reported from Benin by CHABANAUD 1916 and VILLIERS 1951; probably based on a misidentification (ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010). See map in Šmíd et al. 2019: 39 (Fig. 1).

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

 
References
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