Natriciteres olivacea (Peters, 1854)

Pauwels, Olivier S. G., Morelle, Stephan, Albert, Jean-Louis, Carlino, Piero, Rahola, Nil & Trape, Jean-François, 2019, New reptile records from Lékédi Park and Haut-Ogooué Province, southeastern Gabon, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 174) 13 (1), pp. 143-161 : 154

Natriciteres olivacea (Peters, 1854)

An adult female (RBINS 18484, see Appendix 1 and Fig. 28 ) was encountered by SM at midday on 10 October 2016 in Lékédi Park. It contains four large eggs between the ventrals 93 and 127, each of a length of about 17 mm. It shows a round pupil and a temporal formula of 1+2 on each side. In life the dorsum of this individual was nearly uniformly black, and the mediodorsal band that is characteristic of this species was nearly invisible. New record for the park and new Dept. record (not recorded from the Dept. by Pauwels and Vande weghe 2008; Pauwels et al. 2017a). In Gabon this snake is much less common than its congener Natriciteres fuliginoides (Günther, 1858) which was however not found during our survey; both were evaluated as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Figures

Fig. 28. Adult female Natriciteres olivacea (RBINS 18484) in Lékédi Park, Haut-Ogooué Prov., southeastern Gabon. Photograph by S. Morelle.