Philothamnus punctatus PETERS, 1867
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Philothamnus punctatus?
Philothamnus punctatus
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Spotted Green Snake |
| Synonym | Philothamnus punctatus PETERS 1867: 889 Ahaetulla kirkii — GÜNTHER 1888 Leptophis punctatus — MOCQUARD 1888: 128 ? Philothamnus punctatus var. sansibaricus PFEFFER 1893: 83 Philothamnus punctatus — HUGHES 1985: 522 Philothamnus punctatus — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 30 Philothamnus punctatus — CIMATTI 2005 Philothamnus punctatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 558 Philothamnus punctatus — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 494 |
| Distribution | From coastal Mozambique, through E Tanzania (incl. Pemba, Zanzibar, Mafia Islands), Kenya to Somalia and E Ethiopia, N Malawi Type locality: “Zanzibarküste” [Tanzania] |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Syntypes: ZMB 1919 (2 specimens), 1920 (2 specimens), 5571 (3 specimens) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: P. punctatus differs from semivariegatus principally in its higher maxillary socket counts and in usually having only two upper labials enter the orbit. It also lacks concealed white spots on the body scales but develops prominent black spots and blotches, particularly on the anterior part of the body, in coastal Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique where semivariegatus develops the same prominent spotting! Hence the names punctatus and melanostigma Jan & Sordelli, 1869, the last a synonym of semivariegatus. In its maxillary socket counts, lack of white spotting, and scale counts, punctatus closely resembles loveridgei and this is particularly true of specimens from the environs of the Livingstone Mts at the northern end of Lake Malawi, including the series of "dorsalis" which gave Loveridge (1933, 1958, p. 123) such difficulty. Here most specimens have 3 upper labials reaching the eye - the usual condition in loveridgei, occasional in punctatus; but one third of the Mwaya speciemens have only two reaching the eye and others in the series show the development (asymmetrically or by degree) of this condition. Furthermore, the mean tooth socket count is nearer to punctatus than loveridgei and I think we are dealing with punctatus difficult to identify rather than intergrades between species or a geographic variant of loveridgei. Surely punctatus belongs to the nitidus/ loveridgei complex and may represent former extension to the East African coast accomplished in time past when the central African forest was of greater extent than now. (Hughes 1985) |
| Comment | Synonymy: Has been considered a synonym of P. semivariegatus for many years. “Part of the difficulty of distinguishing that species from semivariegatus has been due to confusion of the latter with punctatus by Boulenger 1894, followed by everyone who has published on Philothamnus in this century. Analyses of variation in semivariegatus (e. g. by Parker 1949) have been in vain because of failure to distinguish punctatus. With removal of punctatus — with its low ventral and high subcaudal and maxillary tooth counts, the variation in semivariegatus sensu stricto is lessened although the presence in East Africa - Sudan to Mozambique, of specimens with very high subcaudal counts has made me wonder if there isn't another cryptic species yet to be separated.” (Hughes 1985) This species has several color morphs, e.g. black, yellow-greenish, and green-brown ones on Pemba Island (HAWLITSCHEK et al. 2012). Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). |
| Etymology | Named after the punctate pattern that many specimens show in this species. |
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