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Psammophylax variabilis GÜNTHER, 1893

IUCN Red List - Psammophylax variabilis - Least Concern, LC
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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.  
Reproductionovoviviparous (although annotated as mixed oviparous / ovoviviparous in Pyron & Burbrink 2013). 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.1.2.66-69 (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 2415 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. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin variabilis, "changeable, or "variable". 
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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