Buhoma vauerocegae (TORNIER, 1902)
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Buhoma vauerocegae
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| Higher Taxa | Elapoidea, incertae sedis, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Usambara forest snake |
| Synonym | Geodipsas vauerocegae TORNIER 1902: 703 Geodipsas vauerocegae — WERNER 1913: 26 Geodipsas vauerocegae — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 26 Buhoma vauerocegae — ZIEGLER et al. 1997 Buhoma vauerocegae — SPAWLS et al. 2002: 371 Buhoma vauerocegae — WALLACH et al. 2014: 127 Buhoma vauerocegae — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 416 |
| Distribution | Tanzania (Usambara, Uluguru, Magrotto Mountains) Type locality: Usambara Mountains, Tanzania. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: ZMB 17557, female (Küttner, Böhler, and F. Sammler), missing fide R. Günther, in litt. Paralectotypes: ZFMK 95261, ZMB |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus). Distinguishable from Geodipsas by deep bifurcation of sulcus spermaticus, and by combination of configuration of (a) sublinguals and (b) temporals (see above). Following BOGERT (1940) a distinction from all other African colubrid genera is possible by combination of (a) presence of hypapophyses on the posterior vertebrae, (b) grooved posterior maxillary teeth, (c) sulcus spermaticus forked. (Ziegler et al. 1997) Description (genus). Small forest snakes (maximum known total length 520 mm) with round pupils. 17-19 dorsal scale rows; 122-163 ventrals; anal undivided; subcaudals single or in pairs, 31-50; 7 or 8 supralabials (third and fourth or fourth and fifth in contact with eye); generally one or two (exceptionally three) preoculars and two (exceptionally one or three) postoculars. Temporals 1+2; upper temporal of second row generally longest. 15-19+11 maxillary teeth. Rictal gland configuration similar to that in Aparallactus (Underwood pers. comm.). For a detailed description of skull characters of B. depressiceps see BOURGEOIS (1968). Hemipenis simple and elongate. Pedicel covered with tiny respectively small and slender spines, truncus and apex densely covered with strong and stout resp. recurved spines, which can form a single ring of elongate spines at the lower truncus; there can exist longitudinal truncal ridges of tissue, covered with small spines. Sulcus spermaticus without spines, bifurcate for about 1/2 to 2/3 of its length, with the branches terminating laterally below the tip of the hemipenis. (Ziegler et al. 1997) Diagnosis (species): “Neben Geodipsas infralineata BIgr., aber zwischen den beiden Furchenzähnen und den soliden Oberkieferzähnen kein Zwischenraum.Rückenschuppen in 17 Querreihen. Ventralia 128-132, Caudalia 34-44. Nasale sehr groß, viel länger als breit, stößt hinten an das Labiale-2, Praefrontale und Frenale. Drei Unterlippenschilder in Contact mit dem ersten Kinnschild , weIches so lang wie das zweite ist” (from TORNIER 1902). |
| Comment | Phylogenetics: The genus Buhoma has not been unambiguously assigned to any particular snake family although Zaher et al. 2019 showed that it is more closely related to Elapidae than to any other family. CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019 included Buhoma in the subfamily Pseudoxyrhophiinae although the phylogenetic relationships of the genus remain uncertain. Type species: Geodipsas vauerocegae TORNIER 1902: 703 is the type species of the genus Buhoma ZIEGLER et al. 1997. |
| Etymology | Buhoma is the vernacular name by which B. depressiceps marlieri is known in the Musigati region, Burundi (DERLEYN 1978); we here define its gender as feminine. TORNIER (1902) did not explain the source of the species name. |
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