Dendroaspis polylepis Günther, 1864

Conradie, Werner, Baptista, Ninda L., Verburgt, Luke, Keates, Chad, Harvey, James, Júlio, Timóteo & Neef, Götz, 2021, Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi river drainages. Part 1: Serpentes (snakes), Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 292) 15 (2), pp. 244-278 : 268

Dendroaspis polylepis Günther, 1864

Black Mamba ( Fig. 32 , Map 30) Material: PEM R24277, Cuando River, Camp 20, Moxico Province, -14.88452° 20.29548°, ~ 1,116 m asl; DOR (photo and DNA), near Caiundo, Cuando Cubango Province, -15.32121° 17.651610°, ~ 1,306 m asl; LVA2 (DNA), EN140 north of Menongue, Cuando Cubango Province, -13.08367° 16.75083°, ~ 1,710 m asl. Additional photographic records: Cuatir, Cuando Cubango Province, -16.48523° 18.20304°, Stefan van Wyk; Menongue, Cuando Cubango Province, -14.63015° 17.63465°, Stefan van Wyk. Description: Dorsal scales smooth and in 21 rows at midbody; 273 smooth ventrals; 121 paired subcaudals; 3 preoculars; 4 postoculars; temporals mostly 1+2; 8 supralabials, the 4 th entering the orbit; 12 infralabials, the first four in contact with the anterior chin shield; cloacal scale divided. Female: 1,570 + 460 mm (PEM R24277). Habitat and natural history notes: The specimen from Cuando River shared a hole with a Philothamnus semivariegatus (PEM R24278). Two adult specimens were seen mating near the Khula River source in April 2017. Comment: Two species of Mamba are known to occur in Angola, D. jamesoni and D. polylepis ( Branch 2018; Marques et al. 2018). Most historical material of D. polylepis from Angola was wrongly referred to as D. angusticeps (see citations within Marques et al. 2018), which was only rectified by Bayhman (2010). Fewer than 10 records of D. polylepis were mapped in Marques et al. (2018). Since then, numerous new records have been documented from Angola ( Baptista et al. 2019a; iNaturalist 32281228, 32523446; this study). As predicted by Conradie et al. (2016), this species appears to be widespread in central and southern Angola, with an isolated record from the extreme north-western section of Angola ( Bayhman 2010). The record mapped in Marques et al. (2018) from Lake Carumbo, Lunda-Norte Province is based on a sight record that cannot be properly verified to the species level ( Branch and Conradie 2015). It should thus be omitted until new material can be collected, and the validity of the record confirmed. The absence of this species from north-eastern Angola is further supported by Laurent (1950, 1954, 1964) and Thys van den Audenaerde (1966) who failed to document this species in their extended works.

Figures

Fig. 32. Dendroaspis polylepis from Cuando River. Photo by Götz Neef.