Boaedon broadleyi HALLERMANN & HAWLITSCHEK, 2025
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Boaedon broadleyi
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| Higher Taxa | Lamprophiidae (Boaedontini), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Boaedon broadleyi HALLERMANN & HAWLITSCHEK 2025: 125 Lamprophis fuliginosus — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 236 Photo 81 Lamprophis fuliginosus — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 469 (Fig. 300) Boaedon fuliginosus — SPAWLS et al. 2023: 442, 443 |
| Distribution | Ethiopia (Afar, oromia, Somali and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ National regional State); probably in Northern Somalia (Somaliland) Type locality: near Addis Ababa (Abada) (approx. 09° 01’ 48” N 38° 04’ 24” E, 2552 m), Oromia region. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: ZMH r08485 (DNA voucher JH 10): an adult female, collected by Dr. Peter Angenstein during the end of the 1980s, kept in captivity until 2006 by ralf Hörold and donated to the Zoological Museum Hamburg (ZMH) in Dec. 2006 (Fig. 3) Paratypes (13): All from Ethiopia: MNHN 4342, an adult female from Ethiopia (Abyssinie) with no specific locality, received by natural produce dealer Deyrolle (Henry or Emile) and collected by A. M. J. raffray in 1874; ZFMk 16231-32, adult females from Negele (approx. 07° 41’ 00” N 39° 15’ 00” E, 1575 m), Sidamo Province, oromia region, collected by H. rupp, 28. Feb. 1975; ZFMk 16293, an adult female from lake koka (approx. 08° 23’ 31” N 39° 05’ 00” E, 1595 m) oromia region, collected by H. rupp, Sept. 1973; ZFMk 16294-95, adult female and juvenile respectively from Arba Minch (approx. 06° 02’ 00” N 37° 33’ 00” E, 1285 m) Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples region, collected by H. rupp, 26. Mar. 1975; ZFMk 16799, an adult male from kaki (approx. 08° 56’ 00” N 35° 03’ 00” E, 3000 m) tulu welel mountains, oromia region, collected by G. Nikolaus, 20.Nov. 1975; ZFMk 19159, an adult female from Chifra (Sifra) (approx. 11° 36’ 14.2” N 40° 12’ 35.86” E, 825 m) Afar region; ZFMk 84994 a juvenile from Jijiga (approx. 9° 40’ 00” N 38° 45’ 00” E, 1634 m) Somali region; ZMH r08486, an adult male, same data as holotype, ZMH r11333 (DNA voucher JH 59), an adult female same data as holotype, ZMH r11341-42, an adult male and female respectively, same data as holotype but donated to the ZMH in 2019. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (n=15). Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov. can be distinguished from most congeners by a beige to light brown to reddish ground colour, with two short white stripes on the sides of the head. the upper stripe begins just behind the eye on the upper postocular, runs through the lower part of the parietal and the upper first temporal and terminates on the second temporal; the lower stripe passes from the lower postocular through the first temporal and terminates on the last supralabial. Frequently three supralabials contact the eye and two preoculars, the upper one much larger than the lower one touching the frontal. PAr is equal to the distance between the frontal and the rostral scale. Middorsal scale rows varies between 27 and 33 (mean 29.1), ventrals are 223–240 in females and 191–224 in males and subcaudals 45–55 and 59–63 respectively. (table 3) within Ethiopian Boaedon, Boaedon broadley sp. nov. differs from Ethiopian B. sp. (black form) and Somalian B. subniger sp. nov. by the combination of its reddish, olive-brown or light brown body colouration with two short head stripes (versus blackish-brown or dark brown body colouration and head stripes missing) with the first two body scale rows uncoloured (versus no dorsals uncoloured) and a higher average of mid-dorsal scale counts of 29.1 (versus 27.0 in B. subniger sp. nov.). Boaedon maculatus has an additional row of scales between the supralabials and loreal between nasal and preocular scale (versus no row of scales) and 10–11 supralabials (versus 8). Extralimital species: Boaedon montanus (trape et al. 2022) differs genetically from B. broadleyi sp. nov. there is no differential diagnostic character to distinguish the species of B. montanus in its hole distribution area from B. broadleyi because all meristic characters vary in different populations of this species. within the type series of B. montanus one character is different: no contact of the upper preocular with the frontal (versus contact) and PAr longer than distance of frontal to rostral (versus PAr equal to distance from frontal to rostral). Specimens of the Uganda clade (B. montanus) and from South Sudan (cf. montanus) predominantly have a dark brown coloration (versus light brown in broadleyi) and, variably, the preocular is separate from the frontal or in contact with it, predominantly two supralabials touching the eye (91%) (versus 55% in broadleyi sp. nov.) and frequently a lower mean of MSr of 28.0–28.8 in all populations (versus 29.1in B. broadleyi sp. nov.) (table 2). B. perisilvestris with dark brown colouration and no clear head or body lines (versus headlines present and light brown or olive brown colour in B. broadleyi sp. nov.) has PAr longer than distance of margin of frontal to end of snout (versus PAr equal in B. broadleyi sp. nov.). B. paralineatus differs in having clearly marginated light headlines anterior and posterior to eye and on anterior part of body (versus short head stripes not well contrasted and no body line in broadleyi sp. nov.); B. capensis species complex differs in having loreal length/high ratio mainly 2 or lower (versus 2 and higher) and a dorsal scale count mean of 27.0 (versus 29.1 in B. broadleyi sp. nov.). (Hallermann & Hawlitschek 2025) Additional details (58 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after Donald George (Don) Broadley, a British born Herpetologist and emeritus curator of the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The authors honour his extensive work on African reptiles especially on Boaedon, which he could not publish before he died in 2016. |
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