You are here » home advanced search Amblyodipsas polylepis

Amblyodipsas polylepis (BOCAGE, 1873)

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Amblyodipsas polylepis?

Add your own observation of
Amblyodipsas polylepis »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaAtractaspididae (Aparallactinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesAmblyodipsas polylepis polylepis (BOCAGE 1873)
Amblyodipsas polylepis hildebrandtii (PETERS 1877) 
Common Namespolylepis: Common Purple-glossed Snake
hildebrandtii: Common Purple-glossed Snake 
SynonymCalamelaps polylepis BOCAGE 1873: 216
Calamelaps unicolor FITZSIMONS (fide BOYCOTT 1992)
Calamelaps unicolor polylepis — FITZSIMONS 1946
Calamelaps unicolor polylepis — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947
Amblyodipsas polylepis — WELCH 1994: 15
Amblyodipsas polylepis — BOYCOTT 1992
Amblyodipsas polylepis — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 86
Amblyodipsas polylepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 26
Amblyodipsas polylepis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 468
Amblyodipsas polylepis — PIETERSEN et al. 2021

Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis (BOCAGE 1873)
Calamelaps miolepis — GÜNTHER 1888
Calamelaps warreni BOULENGER 1908: 234
Calamelaps mellandi BOULENGER 1915
Calamelaps unicolor warreni — FITZSIMONS 1946
Calamelaps unicolor miolepis — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947
Calamelaps unicolor warreni — LOVERIDGE 1951: 108
Calamelaps unicolor warreni — LOVERIDGE 1957: 15
Calamelaps unicolor miolepis — BROADLEY 1959
Calamelaps unicolor miolepis — BROADLEY 1962
Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis — AUERBACH 1987: 173
Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis — BATES et al. 2014: 345

Amblyodipsas polylepis hildebrandtii (PETERS 1877)
Atractaspis Hildebrandtii PETERS 1877: 616
Calamelaps unicolor hildebrandtii — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947
Calamelaps unicolor unicolor — LOVERIDGE 1957 (fide RASMUSSEN 1981)
Amblyodipsas polylepis hildebrandtii — RASMUSSEN 1981: 179
Amblyodipsas polylepis hildebrandtii — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 28
Atractaspis polylepis — BAUER et al. 1995: 68 
DistributionAngola, Namibia, Botswana, S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Republic of South Africa (Transvaal, Natal, Swaziland), E/S Tanzania, coastal Kenya, Somalia

hildebrandtii: coastal Kenya, E/S Tanzania, Somalia; Type locality: Zanzibar.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: lost, was MB (Museu Bocage) (probably lost in fire 1978)
Holotype: ZMB 8595 (not located fide V. Wallach, pers. comm.) collected by Hildebrandt [hildebrandtii] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1071 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: TORNIER (1900) synonymized Atractaspis Hildebrandtii PETERS 1877 with Amblyodipsas unicolor. 
References
  • Auerbach, R.D. 1987. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Mokwepa Consultants, Botswana, 295 pp.
  • Baptista NL, António T, Branch WR. 2019. The herpetofauna of Bicuar National Park and surroundings, southwestern Angola: a preliminary checklist. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13(2) [Special Section]: 96–130 (e203) - get paper here
  • BATES, M.F., ANDERSON, W.M., & BOURQUIN, S. 2009. Amblyodipsas p. polylepis (Bocage, 1873). Diet. African Herp News (47): 41-42 - get paper here
  • Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp.
  • Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp.
  • Bocage, J.V.B. 1873. Melanges erpetologiques. II. Sur quelques reptiles et batraciens nouveaux, rares ou peu connus d‘Afrique occidentale. Jorn. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat. Lisboa 4: 209-227 - get paper here
  • Boycott, R.C. 1992. An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Swaziland. The Conservation Trust of Swaziland - get paper here
  • Branch, William R. 1993. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 144 S.
  • Broadley, D. & Blaylock 2013. The Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 387 pp. [book review in Sauria 35 (2): 59 and Copeia 2014: 388] - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. 1971. A revision of the African snake genera Amblyodipsas and Xenocalamus. Occ. Pap. natl. Mus. Rhod. B4 (33): 629-697
  • Broadley, D. G. 1975. A Record Purple - Glossed Snake, Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis From Rhodesia. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (13): 25-26 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • Broadley, D.G. 1959. The herpetology of Southern Rhodesia. Part I--the snakes. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 120 (1): 1-100 [reprint 1972] - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1962. On some reptile collections from the North-Western and North-Eastern Districts of Southern Rhodesia 1958-1961, with descriptions of four new lizards. Occ. Pap. Nat. Mus. South. Rhodesia 26 (B): 787-843
  • Broadley, D.G.; Doria, C.T. & Wigge, J. 2003. Snakes of Zambia. An Atlas and Field Guide. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 280 pp. [review in Sauria 26 (3): 21]
  • Broadley, Donald G. and F. P. D. Cotterill. 2004. The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot'. [Congo]. African Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 35-61. - get paper here
  • Chifundera, K. 1990. Snakes of Zaire and their bites. Afr. Stud. Monogr. (Kyoto) 10(3): 137-157.
  • 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
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; NINDA L. BAPTISTA, LUKE VERBURGT, CHAD KEATES, JAMES HARVEY, TIMOTEO JULIO & GOTZ NEEF. 2021. Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi river drainages. Part 1: Serpentes (snakes). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2): 244–278. - get paper here
  • Conradie, Werner; Pedro Vaz Pinto 2021. A snake with an appetite for the rare: Amblyodipsas polylepis (Bocage, 1873) feeding on the amphisbaenid Monopeltis luandae Gans, 1976. Herpetology Notes 14: 205-207
  • Fitzsimons, V. 1946. Notes on some African Snakes, including a discription of a new subspecies of Xenocalamus. Annals Transvaal Mus. 20 (4): 379-394 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1888. Contribution to the knowledge of snakes of tropical Africa. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 1: 322-335 - get paper here
  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Jennings, P.E. 1994. Life History Notes - Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis. African Herp News (21): 21-21 - get paper here
  • Lanza, B. 1983. A list of the Somali amphibians and reptiles. MONITORE ZOOLOGICO ITALIANO, new Ser., SUPPL. 18 (8): 193-247 - 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
  • Loveridge, A. 1957. On a third collection of reptiles taken in Tanganyika by C.J.P. Ionides, Esq. Tanganyika Notes and Records 43: 1-19
  • Loveridge, A. 1957. Check list of the reptiles and amphibians of east Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 117 (2): 153-362 - get paper here
  • Malonza, Patrick K.; David M. Mulwa, Joash O. Nyamache, Georgina Jones 2017. Biogeography of the Shimba Hills ecosystem herpetofauna in Kenya. Zoological Research 38(5): 1-11 - get paper here
  • Maritz, Bryan, John L. Blackburn and Paul Huang. 2014. Amblyodipsas polylepis (Bocage, 1873) Common Purple-glossed Snake. Mimicry. African Herp News (61): 23-24 - get paper here
  • Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1877. Übersicht der Amphibien aus Chinchoxo (Westafrika), welche von der Africanischen Gesellschaft dem Berliner zoologischen Museum übergeben sind. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1877 (October): 611-620 - get paper here
  • Pietersen DW, Pietersen EW, Conradie W. 2017. Preliminary herpetological survey of Ngonye Falls and surrounding regions in south-western Zambia. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 11(1) [Special Section]: 24–43 (e148 - get paper here
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • Pietersen, Errol and Darren Pietersen 2002. Amblyodipsas polylepis, Common Purple-glossed Snake. Size. African Herp News (35): 14-15 - get paper here
  • Rasmussen,J.B. 1981. The snakes from the rainforest of the Usambara Mountains, Tanzania: a checklist and key. Salamandra 17 (3-4): 173-188 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - 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
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Tolley KA, Telford NS, Makhubo BG, Power RJ, Alexander GJ 2023. Filling the gap: Noteworthy herpetological discoveries in North West Province, South Africa. Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(1): 101-116 - get paper here
  • Tornier, G. 1900. Ueber Atractaspis hildebrandti. Zoologische Jahrbücher 14(1):85-86 - 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, Jean-François & Marcel COLLET 2021. Nouvelles données sur les serpents du sud-est du Katanga (République démocratique du Congo). Bull. Soc. Herp. Fr. (2021) 179 | 11-26 - 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.
  • Witte, G. F. de & LAURENT,R.F. 1947. Revision d'un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus, et formes affines. Mém. Mus. Roy. Hist. Nat. Belgique (sér. 2) 29: 1-134
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator