You are here » home › search results › Polemon christyi

Polemon christyi (BOULENGER, 1903)

IUCN Red List - Polemon christyi - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Polemon christyi?

Add your own observation of
Polemon christyi »

We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaAtractaspididae (Aparallactinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Eastern Snake-eater 
SynonymMiodon christyi BOULENGER 1903: 354
Miodon unicolor SCHMIDT 1923: 119
Melanocalamus leopoldi DE WITTE 1941: 216
Miodon christyi — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 73
Melanocalamus leopoldi — DE WITTE & LAURENT 1947: 80
Miodon collaris christyi — LOVERIDGE 1957: 283
Polemon christyi — WELCH 1994: 99
Polemon christyi — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 29
Polemon leopoldi — WELCH 1994: 99
Polemon christyi — CHIRIO & INEICH 2006
Polemon christyi — WALLACH et al. 2014: 561
Polemon leopoldi — WAGNER et al. 2014
Polemon christyi — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 461
Polemon christyi — CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019: 175 
DistributionDemocratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire; except in the west), Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Republic of South Sudan (RSS) ?, Zambia.

Type locality: Uganda.

leopoldi: Rwanda (Rwankeri district)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.8.88 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 941 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: Reports from the Central African Republic are questioned by CHIRIO & INEICH 2006.

Synonymy: after WALLACH et a. 2014: 561.

Similar species: P. ater has been split off from populations that were previously called P. christyi.

Behavior: P. christyi in Rwanda can be diurnal or nocturnal (Hinkel and Fischer 1988). 
EtymologyNamed after Dr. Cuthbert Christy (1863-1932), a Scottish physician who travelled extensively in the West Indies, South America, Africa and the Middle East. He was a member of a League of Nations commission enquiring into slavery and forced labor in Liberia and at some time Director of the Congo Museum, Tervuren, Belgium.  
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1903. Descriptions of new snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 12: 350-354 - 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. 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
  • 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, 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
  • Hughes, B. & Barry,D.H. 1969. The snakes of Ghana: a checklist and key. Bull. Inst. Franc. Afrique Noire A, 31: 1004-1041
  • Mercurio, V. 2007. Polemon christyi and Elapsoidea boulengeri: two new sake distribution records for Malawi. Salamandra 43 (4): 253-255 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
  • Portillo, Frank; William R. Branch, Colin R. Tilbury, Zoltán T. Nagy, Daniel F. Hughes, Chifundera Kusamba, Wandege M. Muninga, Mwenebatu M. Aristote, Mathias Behangana, Eli Greenbaum 2019. A Cryptic New Species of Polemon (Squamata: Lamprophiidae, Aparallactinae) from the Miombo Woodlands of Central and East Africa. Copeia 107 (1): 22-36 - 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
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • 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
  • Tilbury, Colin and Bill Branch. 2014. Polemon christyi (Boulenger, 1903) Christy's Snake-eater. African Herp News (61): 36-38 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • 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.
  • Witte, G. F. de 1941. Batraciens et Reptiles. Exploration du Parc National Albert. Mission G. F. de Witte (1933-1935). Fascicule 33. Brussels 1941, 261 pp. - get paper here
  • Witte, G. F. de & LAURENT,R.F. 1947. Revision d'un groupe de Colubridae africains: genres Calamelaps, Miodon, Aparallactus, et formes affines. Mém. Mus. Roy. Hist. Nat. Belgique (sér. 2) 29: 1-134 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Polemon&species=christyi

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator