| Higher Taxa | Psammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | Kladirostratus acutus acutus (GÜNTHER 1888)
Kladirostratus acutus jappi (BROADLEY 1971) |
| Common Names | E: Striped Beaked Snake, Beaked skaapstekker |
| Synonym | Psammophis acutus GÜNTHER 1888: 327
Rhamphiophis acutus wittei LAURENT 1956
Rhamphiophis acutus — RÖDEL et al. 1999
Rhamphiophis acutus acutus — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 27
Rhamphiophis acutus — SPAWLS et al. 2001
c acutus — BROADLEY & COTTERILL 2004
Psammophylax acutus acutus — KELLY et al. 2008
Psammophis acutus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 586
Psammophylax acutus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 445
Rhamphiophis acutus — CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019: 276
Kladirostratus acutus acutus — KEATES et al. 2019
Kladirostratus acutus jappi (BROADLEY 1971)
Rhamphiophis acutus jappi BROADLEY 1971
Rhamphiophis acutus jappi — CHIRIO & INEICH 1992
Psammophylax acutus jappi — KELLY et al. 2008
Kladirostratus acutus jappi — KEATES et al. 2019 |
| Distribution | Angola, N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), W Tanzania, Burundi, Zambia, W Uganda, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin ?, Ghana, Ivory Coast (RÖDEL et al. 1999), Republic of South Sudan (RSS)
jappi: W Zambia; Type locality: Barotse flood plains in western Zambia.
Type locality: Pungo Andongo, Angola.
|
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.2.81, British Museum of Natural History, London.
Holotype: NMZB (formerly UM = Umtali Museum) 6804; paratypes UM 4841, 6802, 6803, 6916, 10099, 20959, 20962, 20988), Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (2 paratypes FMNH 133045, 134243). [jappi]
Holotype: MRAC 2.380. Paratypes: MRAC, FMNH, SLUMZ, NMZB/UM, ZFMK. |
| Diagnosis | Additional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1740 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Distribution: not listed explicitly by BROADLEY et al. (2003) for Zambia. Not reported from Benin according to ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010. Not listed for Togo by Segniagbeto et al. 2012.
Similar species: K. acutus and togoensis have been confused and thus reports of one of them may represent the other. Broadley 1971, separated Psammophylax acutus (Günther, 1888) from Psammophylax togoensis (Matschie, 1893) both on the basis of constant morphological characters, such as the presence of ventrolateral stripes, and of their geographical distribution. This was followed by SEGNIAGBETO et al. 2012.
Type species: Psammophis acutus GÜNTHER 1888: 327 is the type species of the genus Kladirostratus CONRADIE, KEATES & EDWARDS 2019. |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “acuere” = sharp, or “acutus” = sharpened, pointed, or “acumen” = tip, or “acus” = needle.
The genus name Kladirostratus is derived from the combination of the Greek word κλάδος (klados) meaning “branch,” and the Latin word “rostratus” meaning beaked. The name honors Professor William R. Branch (1947–2018), Curator Emeritus of herpetology at Port Elizabeth Museum, in recognition of his many contributions to the herpetology of Africa, especially regarding snakes. The authors benefitted from his generosity as a mentor and he helped shape their careers, for which they are thankful. The name is masculine in gender. |
| References |
- Böhme, Wolfgang 2014. Herpetology in Bonn. Mertensiella 21. vi + 256 pp. - get paper here
- Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
- Broadley, D.G. 1971. A review of Rhamphiophis acutus (Günther) with the description of a new subspecies from Zambia (Serpentes: Colubridae). Arnoldia 5 (8): 1-8
- Broadley, D.G. 1991. The Herpetofauna of Northern Mwinilunga Distr., Northw. Zambia. Arnoldia Zimbabwe 9 (37): 519-538
- Broadley, D.G.; Doria, C.T. & Wigge, J. 2003. Snakes of Zambia. An Atlas and Field Guide. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 280 pp. [review in Sauria 26 (3): 21]
- Broadley, Donald G. and F. P. D. Cotterill. 2004. The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot'. [Congo]. African Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 35-61. - get paper here
- Chirio,L. & Ineich,I. 1992. Les genres Rhamphiophis Peters 1854 et Dipsina Jan 1863 (Serpentes, Colubridae): revue des taxons reconnus et description d'une espèce nouvelle. Bull. Mus. natl. Hist. nat., Paris, 4è ser. 13A (1-2): 217-235 [1991]
- Conradie W and Branch WR. 2016. The herpetofauna of the Cubango, Cuito, and lower Cuando river catchments of south-eastern Angola. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 10 (2) [Special Section]: 6–36 - get paper here
- CONRADIE, WERNER; NINDA L. BAPTISTA, LUKE VERBURGT, CHAD KEATES, JAMES HARVEY, TIMOTEO JULIO & GOTZ NEEF. 2021. Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi river drainages. Part 1: Serpentes (snakes). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2): 244–278. - get paper here
- Günther,A. 1888. Contribution to the knowledge of snakes of tropical Africa. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 1: 322-335 - get paper here
- Haagner,G.V.; Branch,W.R. & Haagner,A.J.F. 2000. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Zambia and adjacent areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Annals of the Eastern Cape Museum 1: 1 – 25
- Keates, C, Conradie, W, Greenbaum, E, Edwards, S. 2019. A Snake in the grass: Genetic structuring of the widespread African grass snake (Psammophylax Fitzinger 1843), with the description of a new genus and a new species. J Zool Syst Evol Res. 57: 1039– 1066 - get paper here
- Kelly, Christopher M.R.;Nigel P. Barker, Martin H. Villet, Donald G. Broadley and William R. Branch 2008. The snake family Psammophiidae (Reptilia: Serpentes): Phylogenetics and species delimitation in the African sand snakes (Psammophis Boie, 1825) and allied genera. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 47 (3): 1045-1060 - get paper here
- Laurent, R.F. 1956. Contribution à l'herpetologie de la région des Grandes Lacs de l'Afrique centrale. Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge (Sci. Zool.), 48: 1-390
- 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)
- Matschie,P. 1893. Einige anscheinend neue Reptilien und Amphibien aus West-Afrika. Sitzungsber. Gesell. naturf. Freunde Berlin 6: 170-175 - get paper here
- Nečas, P. & Schmidt, W. 2004. Stump-tailed Chameleons. Miniature Dragons of the Rainforest. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 256 pp. [review in Elaphe 14 (1): 24]
- Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
- Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
- Pury, S. de & W. Böhme 2013. A contribution to the understanding of the self-rubbing behaviour in psammophiid snakes (Squamata: Psammophiidae). Salamandra 49 (1): 18-30 - get paper here
- Rödel,M.O.; Kouadio,K, & Mahsberg,D. 1999. Die Schlangenfauna des Comoé-Nationalparks, Elfenbeinküste: Ergänzungen und Ausblick. Salamandra 35 (3): 165-180 - get paper here
- SEKITS, NICK; WALTER TUNNELL-WILSON & KATE JACKSON. 2022. Digging adaptations evolved independently in two lineages of Psammophiid snake: evidence from cranial morphology. African Journal of Herpetology 2022: 1–21. - 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. 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. 1897. Über Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun und Tunis aus dem Kgl. Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges., Wien 47: 395-407 - get paper here
|
| External links |
|
