Boaedon olivaceus is a species of snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is endemic to Africa.

Boaedon olivaceus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Lamprophiidae
Genus: Boaedon
Species:
B. olivaceus
Binomial name
Boaedon olivaceus
(Duméril, 1856)[1]
Synonyms[1]
  • Holuropholis olivaceus Duméril, 1856[2]
  • Boodon poensis Günther, 1888[3]
  • Boodon olivaceus Boulenger, 1892[4]
  • Boaedon olivaceus stirnensis Stucki-Stirn, 1979
  • Lamprophis olivaceus Broadley, 1983

Taxonomic history

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Eli Greenbaum and colleagues described the taxonomy of this species as being "relatively stable for over a century".[5] Auguste Duméril described this species in 1856, making it the type species of his newly-circumscribed genus Holuropholis. Charles Eugène Aubry-Lecomte collected the holotype.[2] The junior synonym Boodon poensis was described by Albert Günther in 1888,.[3] George Albert Boulenger synonymized the two species, classifying it in the genus Boodon.[4][5] Arthur Loveridge classified it in the genus Boaedon in 1957.[6]

In 1974, M. C. Stucki-Stirn described a subspecies B. olivaceus stirnensis, but it was synonymized with the species itself in 2014.[5]

Distribution

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The type locality of this species is Gabon,[2] and the type locality of its junior synonym B. poensis is Bioko.[3]

It is found in Central and West and East Africa.[5] Countries it has been recorded in include: the Democratic Republic of the Congo,[7] Central African Republic,[8] Gabon,[9] Guinea,[10] and Togo.[11]

It is found in and near rainforests.[5]

Description

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Its total length is 850 mm (33 in). It has small eyes,[12] which can be orange, red, or reddish-brown. Its dorsum is glossy and colored dark gray or a dark, greyish-brown.[5]

References

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  1. ^ a b Uetz, Peter; Hallermann, Jakob. "Boaedon olivaceus (Duméril, 1856)". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c Duméril, Aug. (1856). "Note sur les reptiles du Gabon". Revue et magasin de zoologie pure et appliquée. 2e série. 8: 466.
  3. ^ a b c Günther, A. (1888). "Contribution to the Knowledge of Snakes of Tropical Africa". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Ser. 6. 1: 330–331.
  4. ^ a b Boulenger, G. A. (1892). "On some Reptiles collected by Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti in Somaliland". Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova. Ser. 2. 12: 15.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Greenbaum, Eli; Portillo, Frank; Jackson, Kate; Kusamba, Chifundera (2015). "A phylogeny of Central African Boaedon (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae), with the description of a new cryptic species from the Albertine Rift". African Journal of Herpetology. 64 (1): 19. Bibcode:2015AfJH...64...18G. doi:10.1080/21564574.2014.996189. S2CID 83976724.
  6. ^ Loveridge, Arthur (1957). "Check List of the Reptiles and Amphibians of East Africa (Uganda; Kenya; Tanganyika; Zanzibar)". Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 117 (2): 251.
  7. ^ Schmidt, Karl Patterson (1923). "Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo Based on the Collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Part II.—Snakes". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 49 (1): 66–67. hdl:2246/488.
  8. ^ Chirio, Laurent; Ineich, Ivan (2006). "Biogeography of the Reptiles of the Central African republic". African Journal of Herpetology. 55 (1): 48. Bibcode:2006AfJH...55...23C. doi:10.1080/21564574.2006.9635538. S2CID 84692665.
  9. ^ Carlino, Piero; Pauwels, Olivier S. G. (2015). "An Updated Reptile List of Ivindo National Park, the Herpetofaunal Hotspot of Gabon" (PDF). Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society. 50 (3): 32.
  10. ^ Böhme, Wolfgang; Rödel, Mark-Oliver; Brede, Christian; Wagner, Philipp (2011). "The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist". Bonn Zoological Bulletin. 60 (1): 44.
  11. ^ Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude; Trape, Jean François; David, Patrick; Ohler, Annemarie; Dubois, Alain; Glitho, Isabelle Adolé (2011). "The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems" (PDF). Zoosystema. 33 (3): 342. doi:10.5252/z2011n3a4. S2CID 84017614.
  12. ^ Boulenger, George Albert (1893). "Boodon olivaceus". Typhlopidæ, Glauconiidæ, Boidæ, Ilysiidæ, Uropeltidæ, Xenopeltidæ, and Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 335–336.
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