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Aparallactus capensis SMITH, 1849

IUCN Red List - Aparallactus capensis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAtractaspididae (Aparallactinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesAparallactus capensis bocagii BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus capensis capensis SMITH 1849
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895 
Common NamesE: Black-headed Centipede Eater, Cape Centipede Eater
G: Tausendfüßerfresser 
SynonymAparallactus capensis SMITH 1849: 16
Elapomorphus Capensis SMITH 1849
Uriechis capensis — JAN 1866
Uriechis capensis — GÜNTHER 1888: 324 (?)
Aparallactus capensis — BOULENGER 1895: 173
Aparallactus lübberti STERNFELD 1910: 57
Aparallactus capensis capensis — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 122
Aparallactus capensis luebberti — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 122
Aparallactus capensis — WELCH 1994: 15
Aparallactus capensis — AUERBACH 1987: 172
Aparallactus capensis — BOYCOTT 1992
Aparallactus capensis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 28
Aparallactus capensis — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 92
Aparallactus capensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 46
Aparallactus capensis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 451
Aparallactus capensis — PIETERSEN et al. 2021

Aparallactus capensis bocagii BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus Bocagii BOULENGER 1895: 173
Aparallactus capensis luebberti STERNFELD 1910 (fide LOVERIDGE 1944)
Aparallactus capensis bocagii — LOVERIDGE 1944: 202
Aparallactus capensis bocagei — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 126

Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895
Aparallactus punctatolineatus BOULENGER 1895: 173
Uriechis punctatolineatus — BOCAGE 1897: 201
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 128
Aparallactus capensis punctatolineatus — LAURENT 1958: 122 
DistributionE Republic of South Africa, Swaziland, E Botswana, Zimbabwe, C Mozambique, E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia

Type locality: “country (Kaffirland) to the eastward of the Cape Colony, South Africa” [= KwaZulu-Natal, NE South Africa fide V.F.M. FitzSimons, 1962: 154].

bocagii: Angola, SE Zaire, N Namibia
luebberti: Namibia

punctatolineatus: E Angola, Zaire, W Tanzania, N Malawi  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.1.8.62. fide Wallach et al. 2014: 46
Holotype: BMNH 1896.1.29.13 (unclear fide P. Campbell, pers. comm., March 2019) [punctatolineatus]
Holotype: BMNH (? 1905.5.29.34, collected by Ansorge) [bocagii] 
Diagnosis 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: partly after Loveridge 1944. Aparallactus capensis uluguruensis BARBOUR & LOVERIDGE 1928 is considered as a synonym of A. guentheri by BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991. Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic name Plumridgeus Hoser 2012 invalid and rejected its use instead of Aparallactus.

Type species: Aparallactus capensis SMITH 1849: 16 is the type species of the genus Aparallactus SMITH 1849. Aparallactus is the type species of the subfamily Aparallactinae BOURGEOIS 1986.

Phylogenetics: see Portillo et al. 2018 for a phylogenetic analysis of members of Aparallactinae, inlcuding members of Aparallactus.

Diet: centipedes (and maybe other prey). 
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.; 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.
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1895. Descriptions of two new snakes from Usambara, German East Africa. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 16: 171-173 - get paper here
  • Bourgeois M. 1986. Contribution à la morphologie compare ́e du craˆne des Ophidiens de l’Afrique Centrale. Publ. Univ. Off. Congo, 1986; XVIII: 1–293
  • Boycott, R.C. 1992. An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Swaziland. The Conservation Trust of Swaziland - get paper here
  • Branch, W.R.; Rödel, M.-O. & Marais, J. 2005. Herpetological survey of the Niassa Game Reserve, northern Mozambique - Part I: Reptiles. Salamandra 41 (4): 195-214 - 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. 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
  • Bryan Maritz, Aadam Rawoot & Ryan van Huyssteen 2021. Testing assertions of dietary specialisation: a case study of the diet of Aparallactus capensis. African Journal of Herpetology 70: 61-67 - get paper here
  • Buruwate, T. C., & Lloyd-Jones, D. J. 2024. Amphibian and Reptile Diversity of Niassa Special Reserve, Northern Mozambique. Journal of East African Natural History, 113(1), 1-18 - 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
  • Cole, C.J. & Kok, P.J. 2006. New Species of Gekkonid Lizard (Sphaerodactylinae: Gonatodes) from Guyana, South America. American Museum Novitates (3524): 1-16 - get paper here
  • Conradie W and Branch WR. 2016. The herpetofauna of the Cubango, Cuito, and lower Cuando river catchments of south-eastern Angola. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 10 (2) [Special Section]: 6–36 - get paper here
  • Conradie, Werner; Brian Reeves , Neil Brown, & Jan A. Venter 2016. Herpetofauna of the Oviston, Commando Drift and Tsolwana nature reserves in the arid interior of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Indago 32: 81-98 - 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
  • FitzSimons, V. 1962. Snakes of Southern Africa. Purnell (Cape town & Johannesburg), 423 pp.
  • 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
  • Hoser, R.T. 2012. A three-way division of the African centipede eating snakes, Aparallactus Smith, 1849 (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae: Aparallactinae) and a new subgenus of wolf snakes Lycophidion Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae, Lamprophiinae). Australasian J. Herpetol. 13:10–14. - get paper here
  • Jacobsen, Niels H.G.; Errol W. Pietersen & Darren W. Pietersen 2010. A preliminary herpetological survey of the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary on the San Sebastian Peninsula, Vilankulo, Mozambique. Herpetology Notes 3: 181-193
  • Jan, G. 1866. Iconographie générale des ophidiens. 15. Livraison. J.B. Bailière et Fils, Paris - get paper here
  • Jordaan, P.R., Steyl, J.C.A., Hanekom, C.C., Xander Combrink 2020. Fire-associated reptile mortality in Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa. Fire Ecol (2020) 16: 3 - get paper here
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • Laurent, R.F. 1958. Notes herpétologiques africaines II. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 58 (1–2): 115–128
  • MARAIS, J. 2010. Aparallactus capensis (Smith, 1849) Envonmation. African Herp News (52): 8 - 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)
  • Massimo Capalbo 2024. The World's Most Dangerous Snakes - Volume I: From the fast-lightning Black Mamba to the insidious Hook-nosed Sea Snake, through the formidable Coastal Taipan. Privately published, 252 pp. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pernetta, Angelo P. and Matthew C.P. Dell. 2012. Predation of a cape genet (Genetta tigrina, Schreber 1776) by a southern African python (Python natalensis, Smith 1840). Herpetology Notes 6: 31-32.
  • 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
  • Portillo, F., Branch, W.R., Conradie, W., Rödel, M-O., Penner, J., Barej, M.F., Kusamba, C., Muninga, W.M., Aristote, M.M., Bauer, A.M., Trape, J-F., Nagy, Z.T., Carlino, P., Pauwels, O.S.G., Menegon, M., Burger, M., Mazuch, T., Jackson, K., Hughes, 2018. Phylogeny and biogeography of the African burrowing snake subfamily Aparallactinae (Squamata: Lamprophiidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - get paper here
  • Smith, A. 1849. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. 3 (Reptiles). Smith, Elder, and Co., London [facsimile published by Winchester Press, Johannesburg, 1977] - get paper here
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  • Sternfeld, R. 1910. Zur Schlangenfauna Deutsch-Südwestafrikas. Mehrere Fälle von Mimikry bei afrikanischen Schlangen. Mitt. zool. Mus. Berlin, 5: 51-60 - 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
  • 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
 
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