Causus maculatus (Hallowell, 1842)

Ineich, Ivan, LeBreton, Matthew, Lhermitte-Vallarino, Nathaly, Abstract. - The, Laurent Chirio, Oku, Mount & Highlands, Bamenda, 2015, The reptiles of the summits of Mont Oku and the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon *, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 108) 9 (2), pp. 15-38 : 31

Causus maculatus (Hallowell, 1842) (three specimens)

Material: CamHerp 1350C (Baba II village, 5.857°N and 10.102°E, elev. 1,772 m, coll. CamHerp M. LeBreton, July 8, 2002) – CamHerp 0147C (Bali Ngemba village, 5.833°N and 10.077°E, elev. 1,398 m, coll. CamHerp M. LeBreton, July 8, 2002) – CamHerp 0818I (Mbiame, 6.190°N and 10.849°E, elev. 1,955 m, coll. CamHerp M. LeBreton and L. Chirio, July 8, 2002) .

This small nocturnal viper is very common in wet savanna and degraded forests areas. It does not hesitate to venture into the villages at night but its venom is only slightly harmful. Its distribution is broad and includes much of the African continent, from Mauritania to Uganda and Angola. It can be present up to 1,950 m altitude at Mbiame in the BH in Cameroon, which seems to be its altitude record all over its range ( Kucharzewski 2011). Its presence in East Africa seems questionable and should probably refer to an undescribed high-elevation species close to the endemic species reported below. In Ethiopia it is only known from a few specimens collected between 500 and 1,000 m above sea level ( Largen and Spawls 2010).