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Bothrolycus ater GÜNTHER, 1874

IUCN Red List - Bothrolycus ater - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaLamprophiidae (Boaedontini), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Günther's Black Snake 
SynonymBothrolycus ater GÜNTHER 1874: 444
Bothrolycus ater — BOULENGER 1893: 326
Pseudoboodon albopunctatus ANDERSSON 1901: 6.
Pseudoboodon brevicaudatus ANDERSSON 1901: 8
Bothrolycus ater — SCHMIDT 1923: 62
Bothrolycus ater — LOVERIDGE 1936
Bothrolycus ater — PERRET 1961
Bothrolycus ater — BROADLEY 1998
Bothrolycus ater — WALLACH et al. 2014: 114
Bothrolycus ater — TIUTENKO et al. 2022 
DistributionCameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, C/N/E Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville)

Type locality: West Cameroon  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.12.42 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1760 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentType species: Bothrolycus ater GÜNTHER 1874 is the type species of the genus Bothrolycus GÜNTHER 1874.

Distribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022. For a map of the genus see Tiutenko et al. 2022: 258 (Fig. 12). 
EtymologyNamed after its color, Latin “ater, atra, atrum” = dark or black.

The genus was named after Greek bothros (βόθρος), pit + Greek lykos (λύκος), wolf. [“…Lycodont…”]. 
References
  • Andersson, L.G. 1901. Some new species of snakes from Cameroon and South America, belonging to the collections of the Royal Museum in Stockholm. Bihang till Kongliga Svenska Vet. Akad. Handlingar 27 (4): 1-26 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
  • 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
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Günther, A. 1874. Description of some new or imperfectly known species of Reptiles from the Cameroon Mountains. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1874: 442-445. - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G.; Kamdem Toham, A. & Chimsunchart, C. 2002. Recherches sur l’herpétofaune du Massif du Chaillu, Gabon. Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique (Biologie) 72: 47-57 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, Olivier S. G.; César María Aguilar-Gómez , Marius Burger , Zarek S. Cockar , Beki Henderson , Anne-Hélène Paradis , Antonius E. Ruizendaal , Iván A. Sánchez and Ryan van Huyssteen 2025. Miscellanea Herpetologica Gabonica XX. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 60(5):57-65 - get paper here
  • Perret, J.L. 1961. Études herpétologiques africaines III. 1. La faune ophidienne de la région camerounaise. Bull. Soc. neuchâtel. Sci. nat., 84: 133-138
  • Portik DM, Jongsma GFM, Kouete MT, Scheinberg LA, Freiermuth B, Tapondjou WP, Blackburn DC. 2016. A survey of amphibians and reptiles in the foothills of Mount Kupe, Cameroon. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 10(2) [Special Section]: 37–67 (e131)
  • SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS, A., CALVO-REVUELTA, M. & DE LA RIVA, I. 2022. Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea. Zootaxa 5202 (1): 1-197 - get paper here
  • Schmidt, K. P. 1923. Contributions to the herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Part II. Snakes, with field notes by Herbert Lang and James P. Chapin. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 49 (1): 1-146 - get paper here
  • Tiutenko, A., Koch, C., Pabijan, M., & Zinenko, O. 2022. Generic affinities of African house snakes revised: a new genus for Boodon erlangeri (Serpentes: Elapoidea: Lamprophiidae: Lamprophiinae). SALAMANDRA, 58(4), 235-262 - get paper here
  • Trape, J. F. 1985. Les serpents de la region de Dimonika (Mayombe, Republique Popilaire du Congo. Revue de zoologie africaine 99 (2): 135-140
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, J.F. & R. ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995. Les serpents du Congo: liste commentée et clé de détermination. Journal of African Zoology 109 (1): 31-50
  • 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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