Afrotyphlops schlegeli petersii (Bocage, 1873)

Marques, Mariana P., Parrinha, Diogo, Lopes-Lima, Manuel, Tiutenko, Arthur, Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2024, An island in a sea of sand: a first checklist of the herpetofauna of the Serra da Neve inselberg, southwestern Angola, ZooKeys 1201, pp. 167-217 : 167-217

Afrotyphlops schlegeli petersii (Bocage, 1873)

Fig. 9 h

Record.

Mamué riparian area [- 13.8015, 13.1206, 665 m] ( CAS 266467).

Comments.

The Afrotyphlops schlegeli species complex is, as most of the other members of this genus, a taxonomic and nomenclatural conundrum. The validity of petersii as a distinct taxon, endemic to southwestern Angola and Namibia, was supported by Roux-Estève (1974). Marques et al. (2018) considered the Angolan population simply as A. schlegeli . Given the significant geographic separation between the Angolan population and the topotypical population in Mozambique, as well as the morphological differences noted by Roux- Estève (1974), we treat the Angolan populations as a distinct subspecies until a more comprehensive review of the group is undertaken. This taxon appears to be associated with higher elevation and montane areas ( Marques et al. 2018). The collected specimen had been killed by locals who regard it as highly venomous.

Figures

Figure 9. a Trachylepis chimbana b Trachylepis huilensis c Trachylepis laevis d Chamaeleo dilepis e Agama aculeata f Agama schacki (male) g Agama schacki (female) h Afrotyphlops schlegeli petersii. Photographs by AT (a, c, d, f, g) and LMPC (b, e, h).