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Psammophis zambiensis HUGHES & WADE, 2002

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Higher TaxaPsammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Zambian Whip Snake 
SynonymPsammophis zambiensis HUGHES & WADE 2002
Psammophis sibilans — PITMAN 1934: 297 (not LINNAEUS 1758) (part.)
Dromophis lineatus — LAURENT 1956: 247 (not DUMÉRIL & BIBRON)
Psammophis ? sibilans — BROADLEY & PITMAN 1960: 445
Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — BROADLEY 1971: 88;
Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — BRANDSTÄTTER 1995: 53,
Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — BRANDSTÄTTER 1996: 48
Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — HAAGNER et al. 2000:16.
Psammophis sibilans leopardinus — BROADLEY 1977: 18
Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — BRANDSTÄTTER 1996:48
Psammophis zambiensis — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 170
Psammophis zambiensis — BROADLEY & COTTERILL 2004
Psammophis zambiensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 582
Psammophis zambiensis — TRAPE et al. 2019: 75 
DistributionN Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Angola, central Malawi

Type locality: supposedly from 'Abercorn' (now Mbala) area of Zambia  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1959.1.1.81, part of the H.I. Breda collection, sent on from Brussels, but likely to be from M weru-Wantip. Paratypes: PEM R967 (formerly PEM 1438/12); 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1286 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSimilar species: P. leopardinus. This taxon was originally assigned to P. leopardinus, which it resembles in dorsal colour pattern, but it differs in its much lower mandibular tooth counts and also lower ventral and subcaudal counts. In addition there seems to be no connection across eastern Angola and the two forms occupy very different habitats. The sequences of “P. occidentalis” from Zambia and Burundi in Kelly et al. (2008). See Hughes & Wade (2002) for further data (Trape et al. 2019: 77).

Habitat. Apparently inhabiting swampy areas in moist miombo woodland in Zambia and Katanga or montane grassland in Malawi. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality. 
References
  • 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
  • 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
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; WILLIAM R. BRANCH, & GILLIAN WATSON 2019. Type specimens in the Port Elizabeth Museum, South Africa, including the historically important Albany Museum collection. Part 2: Reptiles (Squamata). Zootaxa 4576 (1): 001–045 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2002. On the African leopard whip snake, Psammophis leopardinus Bocage, 1887 (Serpentes, Colubridae), with the description of a new species from Zambia. Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. Lond (Zool.), 68(2): 75-81 - get paper here
  • 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)
  • 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
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • Trape, Jean-François; Pierre-André Crochet, Donald G. Broadley, Patricia Sourouille, Youssouph Mané, Marius Burger, Wolfgang Böhme, Mostafa Saleh, Anna Karan, Benedetto Lanza & Oleg Mediannikov 2019. On the Psammophis sibilans group (Serpentes, Lamprophiidae, Psammophiinae) north of 12°S, with the description of a new species from West Africa. Bonn zoological Bulletin 68 (1): 61–91 - get paper here
  • 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.
 
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