Philothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882

Ineich, Ivan, LeBreton, Matthew, Lhermitte-Vallarino, Nathaly, Abstract. - The, Laurent Chirio, Oku, Mount & Highlands, Bamenda, 2015, The reptiles of the summits of Mont Oku and the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon *, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 108) 9 (2), pp. 15-38 : 27-28

Philothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882 (two specimens)

Material: MNHN-RA 1998.0410 ( Mt. Oku , above the village, elev. 2,200 m – tail broken – formerly identified as Philothamnus bequaerti , coll. CamHerp L. Chirio, June 25, 1998) – CamHerp 3749I (Mbiame, 6.190°N and 10.849°E, elev. 1,955 m, coll. CamHerp M. LeBreton and L. Chirio, July 8, 2002) .

This arboreal snake of wet savanna occupies degraded forests, forest-savanna mosaics, the western Highlands, and altitude savannas like the Sudan savanna in the plains. Herrmann et al. (2006) reported the species up to 2,450 m at Mt. Meletan in the Bamboutos, as well as at Tchabal Mbabo Range. A snake reported from the area as Philothamnus irregularis by Joger (1982) refers to this species ( Hughes 1985: 518; Böhme and Schneider 1987). In East Africa, it occupies various habitats from the sea border up to 2,000 m elevation ( Spawls et al. 2002). This species from Central and Eastern Africa only extends very little west beyond the Cameroon border.

The Mt. Oku specimen deposited in the collections (MNHN-RA 1998.0410) is a female formerly identified as Philothamnus bequaerti but here conservatively considered to correspond to P. angolensis . It measures 565 mm SVL and stubby tail measurement is 201+ mm. There are 15 dorsal scale rows in the middle of the body, 1+164 unkeeled ventral plates, and 79+ subcaudals, also unkeeled. Anal plate is divided. The supralabials (right/ left) are 9 (4–6 touching the eye)/9 (4–6), infralabials 9/9, temporals 1 + 1/1 + 1, preoculars 1/1 and postoculars 2/2. The inside of the mouth is white. Its assignment to P. angolensis is not entirely compatible with the species’ description, however.