Psammophis orientalis BROADLEY, 1977
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Psammophis orientalis
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| Higher Taxa | Psammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Eastern Stripe-bellied Sand Snake F: Psammophis oriental G: Östliche Sandrennnatter |
| Synonym | Psammophis subtaeniatus orientalis BROADLEY 1977 Psammophis subtaeniatus orientalis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 27 Psammophis orientalis — SPAWLS et al. 2001 Psammophis orientalis — BROADLEY 2002 Psammophis orientalis — CIMATTI 2005 Psammophis orientalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 578 Psammophis orientalis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 435 Psammophis orientalis— TRAPE et al. 2019: 70 |
| Distribution | E Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, E Zimbabwe. May extend north to S Sudan and Ethiopia (fide BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991) Type locality: Morogoro, Tanzania. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: MCZ 146965 |
| Diagnosis | Description (orientalis; 139 specimens examined): Nostril pierced between 2 nasals; preocular 1 (very rarely 2), in short contact with or separated from frontal; postoculars 2; temporals basically 2+2+3, but with frequent fusions; supralabials 8 (rarely 7 or 9), the fourth & fifth (rarely third & fourth, fourth, fifth & sixth or fifth & sixth) entering orbit; infralabials usually 10 (rarely 9 or 11), the first 4 (rarely 3 or 5) in contact with anterior sublinguals; dorsal scales in 17-17-13 rows; ventrals 146-170; cloacal shield divided; subcaudals 91-118. Dorsum dark brown, top of head uniform; each scale in vertebral row paler at base, an illdefined pale dorsolateral stripe on scale row 4 and adjacent halves of rows 3 and 5; a dark stripe across rostral, anterior nasal and upper portions of supralabials 1-4; labials white speckled with black; lower half of outer scale row and ends of ventrals white, separated by a pair of well defined black ventral lines from a yellow mid-ventral band. Some large specimens from Bazaruto Island (NMZB 12029), Benguerua Island (NMZB 11378) and Pomene (NMZB-UM 28275-6) show progressive dark grey infuscation of the upper and lower labials, chin, throat and outer edges of the ventrals. (Broadley 2002). Description. (147 specimens examined) Nostril pierced between 2 nasals; preocular 1 (very rarely 2), in short contact with or separated from frontal; postoculars 2; temporals basically 2+2+3, but with frequent fusions; supralabials 8 (very rarely 7 or 9), the 4th & 5th (rarely 3rd & 4th, 4th, 5th & 6th or 5th & 6th) entering orbit; infralabials usually 10 (rarely 9 or 11), the first 4 (very rarely 3 or 5) in contact with anterior sublinguals; dorsal scales in 17-17-13 rows; ventrals 148–170; cloacal divided; subcaudals 95–117. Brandstätter (1995, figs 74–75) has published SEM micrographs of a dorsal scale of NMZB 23336 from Mutare, Zimbabwe. Dorsum dark brown, top of head uniform; each scale in vertebral row paler at base, an ill-defined pale dorsolateral stripe on scale row 4 and 5; a dark stripe across rostral, anterior nasal and upper portions of supralabials 1–4; labials white speckled with black; lower half of outer scale row and ends of ventrals white, separated by a pair of well defined black ventral lines from a yellow mid-ventral band (Trape et al. 2019: 70). |
| Comment | Distribution: see map in BROADLEY 2002: 90 (Fig. 4). Remarks. This form was originally assigned to P. subtaeniatus sudanensis (Loveridge, 1940; Broadley, 1966), but was later described from Morogoro, Tanzania, where it is sympatric with P. sudanensis. Habitat. Dry savannas on the east coast from Kenya south to about Latitude 23°S in Mozambique, sometimes sympatric with P. subtaeniatus in southeastern Zimba- bwe. |
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