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Gonionotophis brussauxi (MOCQUARD, 1889)

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Higher TaxaLamprophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesGonionotophis brussauxi brussauxi (MOCQUARD 1889)
Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei LAURENT 1956 
Common NamesE: Brussaux’s File Snake, Mocquard's African Ground Snake 
SynonymGonionotus brussauxi MOCQUARD 1889: 146
Gonionotus vossi BOETTGER 1892: 417 (fide MERTENS 1967)
Gonyonotus [sic] Brussauxi — BOULENGER 1891: 345
Gonionotophis brussauxi — BOULENGER 1893: 323
Gonionotophis vossi — BOULENGER 1893: 323
Gonionotophis brussauxi — LOVERIDGE 1939: 150
Gonionotophis brussauxi — LAURENT 1954: 44
Gonionotophis brussauxi — PERRET 1961
Goniotophis [sic] brussauxi — BROADLEY 1998
Gonionotophis brussauxi — PAUWELS et al. 2002
Gonionotophis brussauxi — WALLACH et al. 2014: 309
Gonionotophis brussauxi — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 406
Gonionotophis brussauxi — BROADLEY et al. 2018
Gonionotophis brussauxi — CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019: 207

Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei LAURENT 1956
Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei LAURENT 1956: 107
Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei — LAURENT 1958: 121
Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei — WELCH 1982: 161
Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei — PAUWELS & COLYN 2023 
DistributionCameroon, C/E Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon (Pauwels et al. 2006), Angola, W Uganda, Equatorial Guinea

Type locality: Loudinia-Niari, Congo [francais]

prigoginei: Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire); Type locality: Kamituga, 1000 m [elevation], Terr. de Mwenga, Kivu  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 1890.0054
Holotype: RMCA (= MRAC = RGMC) 16443, female; other type material in MD (Museu Dundo) [prigoginei] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): A distinctive African genuswidely distributed in sub-Saharan regions, diagnosed by the fol-lowing combination of characters: body sub-triangular (formerMehelya) or roughly cylindrical, moderately to markedly elongated,and tail moderate to long; head moderate, broad and substantiallyflattened, sharply distinct from neck; snout broadly rounded;nostril enlarged; eye moderate to small, very heavily pigmented,with vertically elliptical or sub-circular pupil; midbody scale rows15–21, vertebral row enlarged and bicarinate; dorsal scalesstrongly keeled (smooth in stenophthalmus), without apical pits; ventrals 147–268, lateral keel present (former Mehelya) or absent; subcaudals paired, 36–124; anal entire; two distinct maxillary conditions: (1, former Mehelya) maxilla with 6–10 teeth increasing in size posteriorly, followed after a short diastema by 11–26 smaller, subequal teeth; (2) maxilla with 24–38 teeth, slightly longer anteriorly, diastema absent; hemipenis minimally to very deeply forked, variable morphology; sulcus centrifugal and divided (Loveridge, 1939: 149; Bogert, 1940; Broadley, 1990; Branch, 1998; Chippaux, 2001).


Additional details (1417 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: Not listed in SCHMIDT 1919. Gonionotophis brussauxi prigoginei fide Jirka Schmidt (pers. comm.). Heterolepis platycephala MATSCHIE 1893 was mentioned in a previous edition of this database but turned out to be an unpublished label name (J. Hallermann, pers. comm., 8 Nov 2016). Gonionotus, is preoccupied by Gonionotus Gray, 1846 [snakes], and Gonionotus Marshall, 1868 [Hemiptera]).

Distribution: Has been erroneously listed for Benin but does not occur there (Hughes 2013). For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Type species: Gonionotus brussauxi MOCQUARD 1889 is the type species of the genus Gonionotophis BOULENGER 1893. Gonionotophis is a substitute name for Gonionotus which is pre-occupied by Gonionotus GRAY 1846 (snakes) and Gonionotus MARSHALL 1868 (hemiptera). Simocephalus GÜNTHER 1858 is pre-occupied by Simocephalus SCHOEDLER 1858 (crustacea). According to other sources Heterolepis capensis SMITH 1847: 55 is the type species of the genus Gonionotophis CSIKI 1903.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after Eugene Brussaux, an anthropologist who was active in West and Central Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The genus was named after Greek gonios (γώνιος), angular + Greek notos (νῶτος), back, dorsum + Greek ophis (ὄφις), snake. ["...scales keeled, with apical pits, in 15 or 21 rows, those of the middle row enlarged and bicarinate..."]. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - 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
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1891. Remarks on the genus Heterolepis, Smith. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 8: 344-346 - 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.
  • Broadley, Donald G.; Krystal A. Tolley, Werner Conradie, Sarah Wishart, Jean-François Trape, Marius Burger, Chifundera Kusamba, Ange-Ghislain Zassi-Boulou & Eli Greenbaum 2018. A phylogeny and genus-level revision of the African file snakes Gonionotophis Boulenger (Squamata: Lamprophiidae). African Journal of Herpetology, DOI: 10.1080/21564574.2018.1423578 - get paper here
  • Carlino, P. & Pauwels, O.S.G. 2015. An Updated Reptile List of Ivindo National Park, the Herpetofaunal Hotspot of Gabon. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 50(3): 25-39 - get paper here
  • Ceríaco, Luis M. P.; Mariana P. Marques, Ilunga André, Esteves Afonso, David C. Blackburn & Aaron M. Bauer 2020. ILLUSTRATED TYPE CATALOGUE OF THE “LOST” HERPETOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS OF MUSEU DO DUNDO, ANGOLA. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 162 (7): 379-440 - 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
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Hallermann, J. 2007. The status of problematic snake types of the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Reptilia, Serpentes). Mitt. Mus. Nat.kd. Berl., Zool. Reihe 83 (2): 160–165 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • Laurent, R.F. 1958. Notes herpétologiques africaines II. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr., 58 (1–2): 115–128
  • Laurent, RAYMOND F. 1954. Reptiles et batraciens de la région de Dundo (Angola) (Deuxième note). Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Publicações Culturais, No. 23: 37-84
  • Lawson, Dwight P. 1993. The reptiles and amphibians of the Korup National Park Project, Cameroon. Herpetological Natural History 1 (2): 27-90
  • 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)
  • Mocquard, M.F. 1889. Sur une collection de reptiles du Congo. Bull. Soc. Philomath. Paris (8) 1: 145-148 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O. S., & Colyn, M. 2023. On a Diverse Collection of Snakes from Amadjabe, Left Bank of the Congo River, Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 58(3), 34-47 - 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.; Christy, P. & honorez, A. 2006. Reptiles and National Parks in Gabon, Western Central Africa. Hamadryad 30 (1-2): 181-196 - 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
  • Perret, J.L. 1961. Études herpétologiques africaines III. 1. La faune ophidienne de la région camerounaise. Bull. Soc. neuchâtel. Sci. nat., 84: 133-138
  • 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
  • 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, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - 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
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - 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.
 
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