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Grayia caesar (GÜNTHER, 1863)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Grayiinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Caesar's African Water Snake 
SynonymXenurophis caesar GÜNTHER 1863: 357
Grayia longicaudata MOCQUARD 1891: 9
Xenurophis caesar — WERNER 1899
Grayia caesar — BOULENGER 1910: 944
Grayia caesar — SCHMIDT 1923: 96
Grayia caesar — PERRET 1961
Xenurophis caesar guentheri STUCKI-STIRN 1979
Grayia caesar — BROADLEY 1998
Grayia caesar — CHIRIO & INEICH 2006
Grayia caesar — WALLACH et al. 2014: 315
Grayia (Xenurophis) caesar — CHANEY et al. 2024: 36 
DistributionEquatorial Guinea, C/E/S Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, Central African Republic, Angola

Type locality: Fernando Po.

longicaudata: Type locality: “San Benito” (Equatorial Guinea)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.6.38 (and possibly additional specimens).
Syntypes: MNHN 1885.765, MNHN 1885.766 [longicaudata] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (subgenus Xenurophis). The snakes in this subgenus, previously placed within the genus Grayia by Mocquard (1897) and Boulenger (1909), are diagnosed by 15 dorsal scale rows at midbody; .100 subcaudals; tail long, usually .40% of total body length when complete; cream colored body bands; black striping on the upper labial scales, and pseudoautotomy (or urotomy, based on the frequency of mutilated tails). (Chaney et al. 2024)


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CommentDistribution: For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Synonymy: mostly after Chaney et al. 2024 
EtymologyGünther does not name a particular Caesar in the etymology but mentions the beauty of the snake, so Beolens et al. (2011) believe the name reflects the impressiveness of the creature-as in the "king of snakes." 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1910. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1909: 944 - 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.
  • Chaney, Teslin; Olivier S. G. Pauwels, Zoltán T. Nagy, Václav Gvoždík, Chifundera Kusamba, Gabriel Badjedjea, Franck M. Masudi, Jeannot B. Akuboy, Raffael Ernst, Jean-François Trape, Laurent Chirio, Werner Conradie, Chad Keates, Van Wallach, Ange-Ghi 2024. Phylogenetics and Integrative Taxonomy of African Water Snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Grayia). Herpetological Monographs, 38(1): 1-52 - 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.
  • Chirio, Laurent and Ivan Ineich 2006. Biogeography of the reptiles of the Central African Republic. African Journal of Herpetology 55(1):23-59. - get paper here
  • Günther. A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 348 - 365 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1983. African snake faunas. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 34: 311-356 - get paper here
  • 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)
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Pauwels, Olivier S. G.; Laila Bahaa-el-din , Jean-Louis Albert , Piero Carlino , Francesco Giannuzzi , Laurent Chirio , Jean-François Gillet , Eddy Poirier and Tariq Stévart 2018. Miscellanea Herpetologica Gabonica XIV. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 53(9): 185-190 - get paper here
  • Pauwels,O.S.G.; Meirte,D. & Cherot,F. 1998. Grayia caesar. Sexual dimorphism. Herpetological Review 29 (3): 170 - 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
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Werner, F. 1899. Ueber Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun und Deutsch-Neu-Guinea grösstentheils aus dem k. Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 49: 132-157 - get paper here
  • Witte, G. F. de 1933. Reptiles récoltés au Conge Belge par le Dr. H. Schouteden et par M. G.-F. Witte. Ann. Mus. Conge belge Zool. Ser. 1 Tome III: 53-100.
 
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