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Limaformosa savorgnani (MOCQUARD, 1887)

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Higher TaxaLamprophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Congo File Snake 
SynonymHeterolepis Savorgnani MOCQUARD 1887
Simocephalus phyllopholis WERNER 1901: 301
Simocephalus butleri BOULENGER 1907: 489
Mehelya butleri — LÖNNBERG 1910: 4
Mehelya phyllopholis — LÖNNBERG 1910: 4
Mehelya lamani LÖNNBERG 1910
Mehelya lamani — STERNFELD 1917
Mehelya lamani — SCHMIDT 1923: 71 (fide LOVERIDGE 1939)
Simocephalus lamani — WITTE 1933
Mehelya capensis savorgnani — LOVERIDGE 1939: 137 (part.)
Mehelya capensis savorgnani — PITMAN 1974
Mehelya capensis savorgnani — TRAPE & ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995: 38
Mehelya capensis savorgnani — BURGER et al. 2004
Mehelya savorgnani — PAUWELS et al. 2006
Mehelya savorgnani — CHIRIO & INEICH 2006
Mehelya savorgnani — CHIRIO & LEBRETON 2007
Gonionotophis savorgnani — KELLY et al. 2011
Mehelya savorgnani — WALLACH et al. 2014: 425
Gonionotophis savorgnani — LANZA & BROADLEY 2014
Gonionotophis savorgnani — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 409
Limaformosa savorgnani — BROADLEY et al. 2018
Limaformosa savorgani — BRANCH et al. 2019 (in error)
Limaformosa savorgnani — PAUWELS & COLYN 2023
Limaformosa savorgnani — LOBÓN-ROVIRA et al. 2025 
DistributionCentral African Republic, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Cameroon, Gabon, S Somalia, Angola

Type locality: “Ogôoué, l’Ouest africain” [= vicinity of Ogooué River, Ogooué-Maritime, Moyen-Ogooué, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ogooué-Lolo or Haut-Ogooué Prov., W, cen. or E Gabon].  
Reproduction 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 1886.0227; Collected by: Pietro Paolo Savorgnan de Brazza [Brazza Mission Scienti!que du Congo]
Collection Date: Dec. 1879–June 1882 [dates of the mission; MNHN record: July 19, 1886, possibly received-at-museum date) 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1448 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: mostly after LANZA & BROADLEY 2014. 
EtymologyEtymology: Named in honor of Italian explorer Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà (1852-1905), who explored the Ogooué River of Gabon (type locality). [under French colonial rule, the capital of the Republic of the Congo was named Brazzaville after him and retained by post-colonial rulers.]
 
References
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1907. Description of a new African snake of the genus Simocephalus. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 20: 489-490 - get paper here
  • Branch, William R.; Pedro Vaz Pinto, Ninda Baptista, and Werner Conradie 2019. The Reptiles of Angola: History, Diversity, Endemism and Hotspots. Chapter 13 in: B. J. Huntley et al. (eds.), Biodiversity of Angola. Springer Verlag, pp. 283-334 - get paper here
  • 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
  • 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
  • Kelly, Christopher M.R.; William R. Branch, Donald G. Broadley, Nigel P. Barker, Martin H. Villet 2011. Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera Lamprophis Fitzinger 1843 and Mehelya Csiki 1903. Mol Phylogenet Evol. 58(3): 415-426 - get paper here
  • Lanza, Benedetto; Donald G. Broadley 2014. A review of the genus Gonionotophis in north-eastern Africa (Squamata: Lamprophiidae). . Acta Herpetologica 9 (1): 89-97 - get paper here
  • Lobón-Rovira, Javier; Ninda L. Baptista, Tyron Clark, Luke Verburgt, Greg Jongsma, Werner Conradie, Luis Veríssimo & Pedro Vaz Pinto (0 Jan 2025. Filling the gaps: herpetological checklist of Mayombe National Park and Cabinda Province (Angola) shed light on one of the most unexplored corners of tropical Central Africa, African Journal of Herpetology, - get paper here
  • Lönnberg, E. 1910. Two new snakes from Lower Congo. Arkiv för Zoologi 7 (8): 1-8 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1939. Revision of the african snakes of the genera Mehelya and Gonionotophis. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 86: 131-162 - get paper here
  • Mocquard, F. 1887. Du genre Heterolepis et des espèces qui le composent, dont trois nouvelles. Bull. Soc. Philom. Paris (7) 11: 1-34 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O. S., & Colyn, M. 2023. On a Collection of Snakes from Bengamisa, Right Bank of the Congo River, Northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society, 58(6), 81-92
  • 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.; Christy, P. & honorez, A. 2006. Reptiles and National Parks in Gabon, Western Central Africa. Hamadryad 30 (1-2): 181-196 - get paper here
  • Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
  • Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch & Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1917. Reptilia und Amphibia. In: Schubotz, H. (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Zweiten Deutschen Zentral-Afrika-Expedition, 1910-1911 unter Führung Adolph Friedrichs, Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, [Band] 1, Zoologie, Lieferung 11; S. 407-510. - 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. 1901. Neue Reptilien des Königsberger Zoologischen Museums. Zool. Anz. 24: 297-301 - 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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