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Rhamnophis aethiopissa GÜNTHER, 1862

IUCN Red List - Rhamnophis aethiopissa - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesRhamnophis aethiopissa aethiopissa GÜNTHER 1862
Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis SCHMIDT 1923
Rhamnophis aethiopissa elgonensis LOVERIDGE 1929 
Common NamesE: Large-eyed Green Treesnake, Splendid Dagger-tooth Tree snake 
SynonymRhamnophis aethiopissa GÜNTHER 1862: 129
Crypsidomus aethiops BOETTGER 1888
Chrysidomus aethiops — MATSCHIE 1893: 212 (in error)
Rhamnophis aethiops – BOULENGER 1896: 632
Thrasops splendens ANDERSSON 1901: 11
Rhamnophis aethiopissa aethiopissa – LOVERIDGE 1929
Rhamnophis aethiops — DE WITTE 1933
Rhamnophis aethiopissa aethiopissa – LOVERIDGE 1944: 128
Rhamnophis aethiopissa aethiopissa — PERRET 1961
Thrasops aethiopissa aethiopissa — TRAPE & ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995: 40
Rhamnophis aethiopissa — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Thrasops aethiopissus — PAUWELS et al. 2002
Thrasops aethiopissa — LEGRAND 2002
Rhamnophis aethiopissa — BRANCH & RÖDEL 2003
Thrasops aethiopissa — CHIRIO & LEBRETON 2007
Thrasops aethiopissa — TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014
Rhamnophis aethiopissa — WALLACH et al. 2014: 645
Rhamnophis aethiopissa — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 502
Thrasops aethiopissa — CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019: 371
Thrasops aethiopissa — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022
Thrasops aethiopissa — SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022
Thrasops aethiopissa — TRAPE 2023: 710

Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis SCHMIDT 1923
Rhamnophis ituriensis SCHMIDT 1923: 81
Rhamnophis ituriensis — DE WITTE 1933
Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis — BROADLEY 1998
Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis — BITTENCOURT-SILVA 2019
Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis — BADJEDJEA et al. 2023
Rhamnophis aethiopissa ituriensis — PAUWELS & COLYN 2023

Rhamnophis aethiopissa elgonensis LOVERIDGE 1929
Rhamnophis aethiopissa elgonensis LOVERIDGE 1929: 24
Thrasops aethiopissus elgonensis — PITMAN 1974
Rhamnophis aethiopissa elgonensis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 31 
DistributionCentral African Republic, W Kenya, W Uganda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guinea (Conakry), Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Bioko = Fernando Po, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Equatorial Guinea

elgonensis: Uganda, W Kenya, NW Tanzania; Type locality: Yala (= Lukosa) River, Kenya.

ituriensis: NE Angola, NW Zambia.

Type locality: West Africa  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.4.99 (and possibly additional specimens).
Syntypes: AMNH 12507-08 [ituriensis]
Holotype: MCZ R-18198 [elgonensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus and species): Dorsal scales in 15-1 (rarely 19) rows at midbody; the vertebral row enlarged; ventrals 154-19; cloacal divided; subcaudals 11-159; two or three labials in contact with the lowest postocular; two large occipitals.


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CommentSynonymy partly after A. Schmitz (pers. comm.).

Distribution: Not reported from Benin according to ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010 and Hughes 2013. For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Type species: Rhamnophis aethiopissa GÜNTHER 1862: 129 is the type species of the genus Rhamnophis GÜNTHER 1862.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyThe genus was named after Greek rhamnos (ῥάμνος), prickly shrubs; bush or bramble + Greek ophis (ὄφις), snake. [?]. 
References
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