Psammophis elegans univittatus Perret, 1961

Trape, Jean-François, Abstract. - We, Youssouph Mané, Africa, West & Known, Niger., 2015, The snakes of Niger, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 110) 9 (2), pp. 39-55 : 44

Psammophis elegans univittatus Perret, 1961

Material: 32 specimens, including four univittatus. Localities: Baboul (3 + 1 univittatus), Cissia (3), Goudoumaria (6), Kellé (1), Kusa (1), Piliki (6 + 3 univittatus), Téla (8).

Literature records: SW Niger ( Roman 1974); Gaya, La Tapoa ( Chirio 2009).

Remarks: The satus of univittatus initially described from northern Cameroon is unclear. Hughes (circa 1998, unpublished document) reports specimens from Mali, Niger (La Tapoa, Garin, Maradi, Soku), Nigeria, Cameroon, and Central African Republic). This taxon is characterized by a single vertebral brown line, and lacking those usually present on the flanks in elegans . It appears sympatric with elegans in Niger and is also distributed in Burkina Faso where five specimens from Bam area (13°20’N, 01°30’W) of Roman’s collection are attributable to univittatus (J.-F. Trape, unpublished). Molecular studies are needed to clarify whether univittatus deserves taxonomic recognition or is simply intraspecific variation.