Boulengerina Dollo, 1886

Wallach, Van, Wüster, Wolfgang & Broadley, Donald G., 2009, In praise of subgenera: taxonomic status of cobras of the genus Naja Laurenti (Serpentes: Elapidae), Zootaxa 2236, pp. 26-36 : 31

Subgenus Boulengerina Dollo, 1886

Limnonaja Schmidt, 1923: 124 (type species Boulengerina christyi Boulenger, 1904 )

Paranaja Loveridge, 1944: 231 (type species Naja anomala Sternfeld = Naia multifasciata Werner, 1902 )

Type species: Boulengerina stormsi Dollo, 1886 (= Naja annulata Buchholz & Peters in Peters, 1876), by monotypy.

Gender: feminine.

Etymology: dedicated to George Albert Boulenger, famous Belgian herpetologist, and curator of reptiles at the British Museum (Natural History) in London from 1881 to 1920.

Distribution: forested regions of western, central, eastern and south-eastern Africa.

Content: four species:

Naja (Boulengerina) annulata Buchholz & Peters in Peters, 1876: 119

Naja (Boulengerina) christyi ( Boulenger, 1904: 14)

Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857: 61

Naja (Boulengerina) multifasciata Werner, 1902: 347

Diagnosis: Intracranial (dorsal) anterior Vidian canal position, 2–4 solid maxillary teeth, penultimate (sixth) supralabial high, combination of one preocular and one anterior temporal (except N. christyi , which sometimes has two anterior temporals), rostral much broader than deep, internasals shorter than prefrontals, dorsal scales highly polished, fangs not modified for spitting.

Comments: This subgenus is morphologically and ecologically highly diverse, including species at both the large ( Naja melanoleuca ) and small ( Naja multifasciata ) extremes of the size spectrum of the cobra clade, and semi-fossorial, terrestrial and aquatic forms. However, they are united by their restriction to forest and forest edge habitats, and their distribution is centred on the central African forests, with only N. melanoleuca extending significantly into West and East Africa.