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Philothamnus irregularis (LEACH, 1819)

IUCN Red List - Philothamnus irregularis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Northern Green Bush Snake, Irregular Green Snake
G: Grüne Sumpfschlange 
SynonymColuber caeruleus LACÉPÈDE (not LINNAEUS) 1789
Coluber azureus BONNATERRE 1790 (nom. oblitum)
Coluber caesius CLOQUET 1818
Coluber irregularis LEACH 1819: 494
Dendrophis chenoni REINHARDT 1843
Leptophis Chenonii — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 545
Leptophis Chenoni — BOCAGE 1866: 48
Philothamnus irregularis var. longifrenatus BUCHHOLZ & PETERS 1875: 199
Philothamnus irregularis — FISCHER 1881: 229
Ahaetulla irregularis — SCLATER 1891: 36
Chlorophis irregularis — BOULENGER 1894: 96
Chlorophis irregularis — BOULENGER 1897: 278
Chlorophis irregularis — STERNFELD 1917
Chlorophis irregularis — PARKER 1932: 219
Coluber vernayi FITZSIMONS 1932: 38 (fide BOGERT 1940)
Chlorophis irregularis — MONARD 1940: 176
Philothamnus irregularis — LOVERIDGE 1955
Philothamnus irregularis irregularis — LOVERIDGE 1958: 85
Philothamnus irregularis irregularis — PITMAN 1974
Philothamnus irregularis — HUGHES 1985
Philothamnus irregularis — RÖDEL et al. 1999
Philothamnus irregularis — BÖHME et al. 2011: 59
Philothamnus irregularis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 556
Philothamnus irregularis — SCHLEICHER 2020 
DistributionEthiopia, Chad, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Zaire, Senegal, Gambia (HÅKANSSON 1981), Ivory Coast (Rödel et al. 1999), Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Sierra Leone, Liberia

Type locality: Ashanti, Gold Coast.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1965.641 (and possibly additional specimens).
Syntypes: ZMUC-R 601925, 601926, and 60617 [Dendrophis chenoni] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy: partly after LOVERIDGE 1958: 85. Meirte (2013) proposed to conserve the name Philothamnus irregularis; Coluber irregularis Leach is a junior primary homonym of Coluber irregularis Bechstein, 1802 = Boiga irregularis. ICZN Opinion 328 already suppressed the senior synonym Coluber caesius Cloquet, 1818.

Distribution: Not listed as such by BROADLEY & POYNTON 1998 for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). Not listed for Botswana by AUERBACH 1987. Not in East Africa (i.e. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi fide S. Spawls, pers. comm., 28 June 2018 but probably there fide Chippaux & Jackson 2019). Not in Angola fide Marques et al. 2018 but near the border in DRC (Chippaux & Jackson 2019). The majority of Angolan literature records for Philothamnus irregularis are probably referable to P. angolensis or P. hoplogaster, two species with which it has commonly been confused (Hughes 1985). See map in Chippaux & Jackson 2019: 351 (Fig. 13.72).

Subspecies: Philothamnus irrgularis battersbyi has been elevated to species status.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
References
  • Barnett, Linda K. 2001. The herpetofauna of Abuko Nature Reserve, the Gambia. Herpetological Bulletin (77): 5-1 - get paper here
  • Barnett, Linda K. & Emms, Craig 2005. Common reptiles of The Gambia. Rare Repro, Hailsham, East Sussex, 24 pp.
  • Bocage,J.V. du B. 1866. Lista dos reptis das possessões portuguezas d'Africa occidental que existem no Museu Lisboa. Jorn. Sci. Math. Phys. Nat. Lisboa 1: 37-56 - get paper here
  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1897. A list of reptiles and batrachians from the Congo Free State, with the description of two new snakes. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 19: 276-281 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, George A. 1894. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume II., Containing the Conclusion of the Colubridæ Aglyphæ. British Mus. (Nat. Hist.), London, xi, 382 pp. - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1957. Snakes of Southem Rhodesia. 2. The Northern Green Snake, Philothamnus irregularis irregularis (Leach). Afr. Wild Life 11: 53-55.
  • Broadley, D.G. 1959. The herpetology of Southern Rhodesia. Part I--the snakes. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 120 (1): 1-100 [reprint 1972] - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1962. On some reptile collections from the North-Western and North-Eastern Districts of Southern Rhodesia 1958-1961, with descriptions of four new lizards. Occ. Pap. Nat. Mus. South. Rhodesia 26 (B): 787-843
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  • Chirio, L. 2009. Inventaire des reptiles de la région de la Réserve de Biosphère Transfrontalière du W (Niger/Bénin/Burkina Faso: Afrique de l’Ouest). [Herpetological survey of the W Transfrontier Biosphere Reserve area (Niger/Benin/Burkina Faso: West Africa]. Bull. Soc. Herp. France (132): 13-41 - get paper here
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  • Herrmann, H.-W.; W.R. Branch 2013. Fifty years of herpetological research in the Namib Desert and Namibia with an updated and annotated species checklist. Journal of Arid Environments 93: 94–115 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1985. Progress on a taxonomic revision of African green tree snakes (Philothamnus spp.). In: Schuchmann, K.L. (ed.) Proceedings of the International Symposium on African Vertebrates. ZFMK, Bonn, pp. 511-530
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  • Meirte, D. 2013. Case 3599 Coluber irregularis Leach in Bowdich, 1819 (currently Philothamnus irregularis; Reptilia, Squamata): proposed conservation. Bull. Zool. Nomenclature 70 (2): 89-98 - get paper here
  • Menzies, J.I. 1966. The snakes of Sierra Leone. Copeia 1966 (2): 169-179. - get paper here
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  • Monard, ALBERT 1940. Résultats de la mission du Dr. Monard en Guinée Portugaise 1937 – 1938. Arq. Mus. Bocage, Lisbon 11: 147-182
  • Musah, Yahaya; Benjamin Y. Ofori and Daniel K. Attuquayefio 2019. Herpetofauna community diversity and composition of a changing coastal wetland in Ghana. West African Journal of Applied Ecology 27 (1): 52 - 65
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  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1875. Über die Hrn. Professor Dr. R. Buchholz in Westafrika gesammelten Amphibien. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1875 (März): 196-212 - get paper here
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