Psammophis leopardinus BOCAGE, 1887
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Psammophis leopardinus
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| Higher Taxa | Psammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Leopard Grass Snake, Leopard Sand Snake F: Psammophis léopard G: Leoparden-Sandrennnatter |
| Synonym | Psammophis sibilans var. leopardinus BOCAGE 1887: 206 Psammophis breviceps leopardinus Psammophis sibilans leopardinus — BROADLEY 1977: 18 Psammophis sibilans leopardinus — BAUER et al. 1993 Psammophis sibilans leopardinus — MATTISON 1995: 225 Psammophis brevirostris leopardinus — HAAGNER et al. 2000 Psammophis leopardinus — BROADLEY 2002: 95 Psammophis leopardinus — HUGHES 2002 Psammophis leopardinus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 577 Psammophis leopardinus — TRAPE et al. 2019: 75 |
| Distribution | SW Angola, NW Namibia, Zambia Type locality: restricted to Catumbela, Angola by BROADLEY 1977: 18 [= 12°26'S, 13°33'E] |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MB (Museu Bocage) 1798, designated by Broadley (1977: 18), destroyed by fire 18 March 1978. |
| Diagnosis | Description (140 specimens examined): Nostril pierced between 2 (rarely 3) nasals; preocular 1 usually separated from frontal; postoculars 2; temporals basically 2+2+3, but with frequent fusions; supralabials 8, fourth & fifth entering orbit; infralabials usually 10 (rarely 8, 9 or 11), the first 4 (rarely 3 or 5) in contact with anterior sublinguals; dorsal scales in 17- 17-13 rows; ventrals 149-174; cloacal shield divided; subcaudals 79-108. Dorsum light red-brown, grey-brown or olive, a pale black-edged median stripe extends from rostral to frontal, where it forks and passes down each side, another pale black-edged stripe extends from the rostral along the canthus rostralis to the upper postocular, where it meets a pale band which crosses the posterior end of the frontal and passes through the postoculars to the lip, two more pale bars cross the back of the head and there may be faint crossbands on the neck. The well developed head pattern of ZFMK 29476 from Omandumba West, Erongo, has been illustrated by Van den Elzen (1980, Fig. 4). The vertebral scale row usually has a pale median stripe, the scales being margined with black, a pair of pale dorsolateral stripes on scale rows 4 and 5, edged with black above; anteriorly the pale stripes are linked by crossbands to form a chain-like pattern (Broadley 1977, Pl. ii; Buys & Buys 1983, Pl. 89), or the pale vertebral line may be suppressed to give a ladder-like dorsal pattern (Mertens 1955, Pl. 15, Fig. 68). Many specimens, particularly from Etosha National Park and environs, lack the typical leopardinus dorsal pattern and are uniform grey above, sometimes retaining head markings. The chin and throat may have grey blotches on each scale, forming a symmetrical pattern, there may be one or two pairs of lateral broken lines on the ventrals, sometimes with grey spots or streaks between them (patterns similar to those found in P. schokari) [from BROADLEY 2002]. |
| Comment | Populations from Zambia have been redescribed as P. zambiensis. Distribution: see map in BROADLEY 2002: 91 (Fig. 5). Country list after Trape et al. 2019. |
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