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Psammophylax variabilis GÜNTHER, 1893

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Higher TaxaPsammophiidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPsammophylax variabilis variabilis GÜNTHER 1893
Psammophylax variabilis vanoyei LAURENT 1956: 240 
Common NamesE: Grey-bellied Grass Snake, Grey-bellied skaapstekker 
SynonymPsammophylax variabilis GÜNTHER 1893: 557
Rhagerrhis tritaeniatus GÜNTHER 1863: 423
Trimerorhinus tritaeniatus — STERNFELD 1910: 55
Trimerorhinus tritaeniatus multisquamis LOVERIDGE 1932: 84
Psammophylax tritaeniatus festivus LAURENT 1956 (fide BROADLEY 1977)
Psammophylax tritaeniatus variabilis — LOVERIDGE 1957: 276
Psammophylax variabilis variabilis — AUERBACH 1987: 162
Psammophylax variabilis variabilis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 27
Psammophylax variabilis — BROADLEY 1998
Psammophylax variabilis — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 568
Psammophylax variabilis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 594
Psammophylax variabilis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 444

Psammophylax variabilis vanoyei GÜNTHER 1893
Psammophylax tritaeniatus vanoyei — LAURENT 1956: 240
Psammophylax variabilis vanoyei — KEATES et al 2019 
DistributionN Botswana (Chobe floodplain), N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia

Type locality: Shire Highlands, Malawi.  
Reproductionovovivparous (although annotated as mixed oviparous / ovovivparous in Pyron & Burbrink 2013). 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.1.2.66-69 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1886 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSubspecies: Psammophylax variabilis multisquamis LOVERIDGE 1932 is now considered as a valid species. 
References
  • Auerbach, R.D. 1987. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Mokwepa Consultants, Botswana, 295 pp.
  • Blackburn, Daniel G. 1999. Are Viviparity and Egg-guarding Evolutionarily Labile in Squamates? Herpetologica 55 (4): 556-573 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. & Blaylock 2013. The Snakes of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 387 pp. [book review in Sauria 35 (2): 59 and Copeia 2014: 388] - 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. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
  • 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
  • Cimatti, E. 2006. African Jewels: Tanzania on foot. Reptilia (GB) (46): 65-70 - get paper here
  • Conradie, Werner; Gabriela B. Bittencourt-Silva, Hanlie M. Engelbrecht, Simon P. Loader, Michele Menegon, Cristóvão Nanvonamuquitxo, Michael Scott, Krystal A. Tolley 2016. Exploration into the hidden world of Mozambique’s sky island forests: new discoveries of reptiles and amphibians. Zoosyst. Evol. 92 (2): 163–180, DOI 10.3897/zse.92.9948 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1893. Report on a collection of reptiles and batrachians transmitted by Mr. H. H. Johnston, C. B., from Nyassaland. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1892: 555-558 [1892] - get paper here
  • 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
  • Keates, C, Conradie, W, Greenbaum, E, Edwards, S. 2019. A Snake in the grass: Genetic structuring of the widespread African grass snake (Psammophylax Fitzinger 1843), with the description of a new genus and a new species. J Zool Syst Evol Res. 57: 1039– 1066 - get paper here
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • Largen,M.J. & Rasmussen,J.B. 1993. Catalogue of the snakes of Ethiopia (Reptilia Serpentes), including identification keys. Tropical Zoology 6: 313-434 - get paper here
  • Laurent, R.F. 1956. Contribution à l'herpetologie de la région des Grandes Lacs de l'Afrique centrale. Ann. Mus. Roy. Congo Belge (Sci. Zool.), 48: 1-390
  • Loveridge, A. 1932. New opisthoglyphous snakes of the genera Crotaphopeltis and Trimerorhinus from Angola and Kenya Colony. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 45: 83-86 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1957. Check list of the reptiles and amphibians of east Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 117 (2): 153-362 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, Arthur 1929. East African reptiles and amphibians in the United States National Museum. Bull. US Natl. Mus. (151): 1-135 - get paper here
  • Lyakurwa, J.V., Howell, K.M., Munishi, L.K., Treydte, A.C. 2019. Uzungwa Scarp Nature Forest Reserve; a unique hotspot for reptiles in Tanzania. Acta Herpetologica 14 (1): 3-14 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Pyron, R. Alexander; Frank T. Burbrink 2013. Early origin of viviparity and multiple reversions to oviparity in squamate reptiles. Ecology Letters 17 (1): 13–21 (published online 2013, in print 2014), DOI: 10.1111/ele.12168 - 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, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1910. Zur Schlangenfauna Deutsch-Südwestafrikas. Mehrere Fälle von Mimikry bei afrikanischen Schlangen. Mitt. zool. Mus. Berlin, 5: 51-60 - 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.
 
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