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Amblyodipsas Peters, 1857

Marques, Mariana P., Ceríaco, Luis M. P., Blackburn, David C. & Bauer, Aaron M., 2018, Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840 - 2017), Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 65, pp. 1-501 : 320-321

publication ID

 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13159758

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scientific name

 Amblyodipsas Peters, 1857
status

 

Genus Amblyodipsas Peters, 1857 View in CoL

Amblyodipsas polylepis (Bocage, 1873) COMMON PURPLE-GLOSSED SNAKE

Calamelaps polylepis Bocage 1873b:216 View in CoL . Holotype: MBL 1878 (collector J.A. d’Anchieta), destroyed by fire 18 March 1978. Type locality: “Dondo, intérieur d’Angola” [= Dondo] Kwanza Norte Province, Angola. Atractaspis Hildebrandtii View in CoL : Peters (1877a:616).

Calamelaps polylepis View in CoL : Bocage (1895a:126, 1897a:201), Ferreira (1904:116), Boulenger (1915:214). Calamelaps unicolor View in CoL : Loveridge (1933:260).

Calamelaps unicolor polylepis : Loveridge (1944c:164, 1957:281), de Witte and Laurent (1947:32). Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis View in CoL : Broadley (1971c:649), Broadley (1990:202), Branch (1998:66). Amblyodipsas polylepis View in CoL : Broadley and Cotterill (2004:46), Bates et al. (2014:345), Wallach et al. (2014:25).

Global conservation status (IUCN): Least Concern.

Global distribution: The species is known from coastal Kenya to South Africa, west to Angola and northern Namibia.

Ocurrences in Angola (Map 280): The species is known from western Angola, however, the species may occur country wide with exception of the northern regions. Bengo: “Cabicula”

[-9.16667, 13.56667] ( Ferreira 1904:116; de

Witte and Laurent 1947:32; Broadley

1971a:652). Kwanza Norte: “Cazengo”

[-9.33333, 14.76667] ( Bocage 1895a:126,

1897a:201; Loveridge 1944c:164; de Witte and

Laurent 1947:32; Broadley 1971a:652);

“Dondo” [-9.68333, 14.43333] ( Bocage

1873b:216, 1895a:126, 1897a:201; Loveridge

1933:260, 1944c:164, 1957:281; de Witte and

Laurent 1947:32; Broadley 1971a:652,

1990:202). Benguela: “Quissange”

[-12.43333, 14.05000] ( Bocage 1895a:126,

1897a:201; Loveridge 1944b:164; de Witte and

Laurent 1947:32; Broadley 1971a:652).

Cunene: “Humbe” [-16.68333, 14.90000] GoogleMaps

( Bocage 1895a:126, 1897a:201; Loveridge

1944bc:164; de Witte and Laurent 1947:32;

Broadley 1971a:652). Undetermined Locali-

MAP 280. Distribution of Amblyodipsas polylepis in Angola.

ty: “without precise locality” ( Peters

1877a:616; Broadley 1971a:652).

Taxonomic and distributional notes: Wallach et al. (2014) confused “Dondo” with “Dundo” from Lunda Norte Province, eastern Angola. There are currently no outstanding taxonomic issues for Amblyodipsas polylepis polylepis (Bocage 1873) , although the taxonomic status of the East African subspecies Amblyodipsas polylepis hildebrandtii (Peters, 1877) should be re-evaluated ( Bates et al. 2014).

BATES, M. F., W. R. BRANCH., A. M. BAUER, M. BURGER, J. MARAIS, G. J. ALEXANDER, AND M. S. DE VILLIERS. 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa. xvii + 485 pp.

BOCAGE, J. V. B. 1873 b. Melanges erpetologiques. II. Sur quelques reptiles et batraciens nouveaux, rares ou peu connus d'Afrique occidentale. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, 4: 209 - 227.

BOCAGE, J. V. B. 1895 a. Herpetologie d'Angola et du Congo. Ministerio da Marinha e das Colonias, Lisbonne, Portugal. 203 pp., 20 pls.

BOCAGE, J. V. B. 1897 a. Mammiferos, reptis e batrachios d'Africa de que existem exemplares typicos no Museu de Lisboa. Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 4: 187 - 206.

BOULENGER, G. A. 1915. A list of the snakes of the Belgian and Portuguese Congo, Northern Rhodesia, and Angola. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1915: 193 - 223.

BRANCH, W. R. 1998. Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa, 3 rd edition. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa. 399 pp.

BROADLEY, D. G. 1971 c. A revision of the African snake genera Amblyodipsas and Xenocalamus. Occasional Papers of the National Museums of Rhodesia, Series B, Natural Sciences, 4 (33): 629 - 697.

BROADLEY, D. G. 1971 a. A reassessment of the northern forms currently assigned to the Cordylus cordylus group. Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa, 7: 20 - 22.

BROADLEY, D. G. 1990. FitzSimons' Snakes of Southern Africa. Jonathan Ball and Ad. Donker Publishers, Parklands, South Africa. 387 pp.

FERREIRA, J. B. 1904. Reptis e amphibios de Angola da regiao ao norte do Quanza (Colleccao Newton - 1903). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7: 111 - 117.

LAURENT, R. F. 1947. Notes sur quelques reptiles appartenant a la collection du Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique. Bulletin du Musee Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Belgique, 23 (16): 1 - 12.

LOVERIDGE, A. 1933. Reports on the scientific results of an expedition to the southwestern highlands of Tanganyika territory. VII. Herpetology. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 74: 197 - 416, pls. 1 - 3.

LOVERIDGE, A. 1944 c. Further revisions of african snake genera. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 95 (2): 119 - 247.

LOVERIDGE, A. 1944 b. Revision of the African lizards of the family Cordylidae. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 95 (1): 1 - 118, pls. 1 - 12.

PETERS, W. C. H. 1877 a. Ubersicht der Amphibien aus Chinchoxo (Westafrika), welche von der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft dem Berliner zoologischen Museum ubergeben sind. Monatsberichte der Koniglichen Preussische Akademie des Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1877: 611 - 621, 1 pl.

WALLACH V., K. L. WILLIAMS, AND J. BOUNDY. 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. xxvi + [2] + 1209 pp.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Squamata

Family

Atractaspididae

Genus

Amblyodipsas

Specimens