Psammodromus sebae, (Gmelin, 1789: 1118)

Bauer, Aaron M., DeBoer, Jonathan C. & Taylor, Dylan J., 2017, Atlas of the Reptiles of Libya, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (8), pp. 155-318 : 268

Python sebae ( Gmelin, 1789:1118)

Angel and Lhote (1938) cited an earlier mention by Largeau (1881) of a “énorme python” (presumably P. sebae , the only large python occurring in North Africa) he had seen in January 1875, 12 km east of Rhadamès (Ghadames) in the “Ouest du Sahara tripolitain.” There are, however, no vouchered records from Libya and the nearest confirmed modern occurrences of pythons are south of the Sahara. However, there are historical records of what have been interpreted by some as large Python in North Africa, most noteworthy being that of a giant snake at the River Bagradas (the modern Medjerda River in Tunisia) reported in 256 B.C. ( Stothers 2004). If Largeau actually witnessed a python in 1875 if would certainly be the only modern record from north of the Sahara. As there are no other candidate species that might be interpreted as “enormous,” the only other option is that he was mistaken as to the site of his own observation.