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Telescopus pulcher (SCORTECCI, 1935)

IUCN Red List - Telescopus pulcher - Data Deficient, DD
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Beautiful Cat Snake 
SynonymMigiurtinophis pulcher SCORTECCI 1935: 2
Migiurtinophis pulcher — SCORTECCI 1939: 279
Tarbophis pulcher — PARKER 1949: 89
Telescopus pulcher — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 537
Telescopus pulcher — WALLACH et al. 2014: 712
Telescopus pulcher — ŠMÍD et al. 2019 
DistributionSomalia, Ethiopia

Type locality: “Migiurtinia (località imprecisata)” [= Bari and E Nugaal Region, NE Somalia].  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MSNG, a 410 mm male (N.M. Bronzi, 28 June 1930). 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions are available for collaborators and contributors. We will relaease that material sometime next year. Please contact us if you need any of this data earlier than that. 
CommentWeakly venomous, but usually not dangerous to humans (not mentioned by Spawls & Branch 2020)

Abundance: This species is only known from the two type specimens, and 2 more specimen reported by Mazuch et al. 2018.

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

Distribution: see map in Šmíd et al. 2019: 39 (Fig. 1), Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2025: 86 (Figure 38). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “pulcher” = beautiful, handsome, fine, fair. 
References
  • Amir, O. G., & Mumin, D. H. 2026. CHECKLIST OF THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF SOMALIA. Somali National Museum [no year given, but released online in 2026] - 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
  • Lanza, B. 1990. Amphibians and reptiles of the Somali Democratic Republic: check list and biogeography. Biogeographia, 14: 407-465 [1988] - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • Largen,M.J. & Rasmussen,J.B. 1993. Catalogue of the snakes of Ethiopia (Reptilia Serpentes), including identification keys. Tropical Zoology 6: 313-434 - get paper here
  • Mazuch, Tomáš 2013. Amphibians and Reptiles of Somaliland and Eastern Ethiopia. Tomáš Mazuch Publishing, 80 pp. ISBN: 978-80-905439-0-4 - get paper here
  • MAZUCH, TOMÁŠ; JIŘÍ ŠMÍD, THOMAS PRICE, PETRA FRÝDLOVÁ, AHMED IBRAHIM AWALE, HASSAN SH ABDIRAHMAN ELMI, DANIEL FRYNTA 2018. New records of one of the least known snakes, Telescopus pulcher (Squamata: Colubridae) from the Horn of Africa. Zootaxa 4462 (4): 483-496 - get paper here
  • Parker,H.W. 1949. The snakes of Somaliland and the Sokotra islands. Zoologische Verhandelingen 6: 1-115 - get paper here
  • Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A; Claudia Koch, Morris Flecks, Patrick D Campbell, Marta Calvo, Stephen Spawls, Nicolas Vidal, Shai Meiri 2025. What is revealed from a widely distributed species in Africa and Southwest Asia? The case of the Telescopus dhara–obtusus species complex (Squamata: Colubridae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume 205, Issue 3, November 2025, zlaf117, - get paper here
  • Scortecci ,G. 1939. Spedizione zoologica del Marchese Saverio patrizi nel Basso Giuba e nell'Oltre Giuba. Giugno-agosto 1934. XII. Rettili Ofidi. Annali Mus. civ. Stor. nat. Giacomo Doria 58: 263-291 - get paper here
  • Scortecci,G. 1935. Un nuovo genere e una nuova specie di Colubridi Opisoglifi della penisola dei Somali. Annali Mus. civ. Stor. nat. Giacomo Doria 59: 1-5 - get paper here
  • Šmíd, J., Göçmen, B., Crochet, P.-A., Trape, J.-F., Mazuch, T., Uvizl, M., & Nagy, Z. T. 2019. Ancient diversification, biogeography, and the role of climatic niche evolution in the Old World cat snakes (Colubridae, Telescopus). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - get paper here
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - 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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