Aparallactus lunulatus (Peters, 1854)

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, Zoosystema 33 (3), pp. 325-360 : 339-340

Aparallactus lunulatus (Peters, 1854)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 20 specimens (Congo: MNHN 1916.0263 - 0265 [no specific locality], MRAC 8506 , Yakoma ; MRAC 10400 , Iswa ; MRAC 10952-10954 , Karawa ; Central African Republic: MNHN 1996.6463 - 6465 , MNHN 1994.3234 [ Seko ] and MNHN 1992.4655 , no specific locality; Kenya: MNHN 1904.0322 and MNHN 1901.0451 , no specific locality; Democratic Republic of Congo [ DRC]: MRAC 17366 , Blakwa ; Sudan: MNHN 2001.0141 and 2001.0182; Togo: MRAC 73 09 R 217, Binaparba; MRAC 29607 , Bassar) .

MORPHOLOGY. — TL from 278 to 310 mm; 15 MSR, smooth; 168 Ven, smooth; 46-47 Sc, all single; anal single; 6-7 supralabials; 7 infralabials; 1 preocular; 1 postocular; 1 temporal.

DISTRIBUTION. — This species inhabits mostly Sudanese savannahs and is thus restricted to ER I and II. Voucher specimens listed here are probably those mentioned by Hulselmans & Verheyen (1970) and Hulselmans et al. (1970).

REMARK

Sternfeld (1908a) identified a specimen from Mango (Sansane Mangu) in Togo as Aparallactus bocagii Sternfeld, 1908 . However, this taxon, now a subspecies of Aparallactus capensis Smith, 1849 , occurs in southeastern Africa, from Angola to southern RDC and Namibia. Parker (1933) described Aparallactus liddiardae from a specimen collected from Jos Plateau in Nigeria. Loveridge (1944: 191) referred the Togolese specimen to A. liddiardae . This species was subsequently synonymized with Aparallactus lunulatus (Peters, 1854) by de Witte & Laurent (1947). However, these authors pointed out that the synonymies proposed in their paper were provisional and that the various taxa placed in the synonymy of A. lunulatus probably deserved a subspecific rank.

Aparallactus lunulatus is widespread in nearly the whole of the savannah belt from Western to Eastern Africa ( Chippaux 2006). De Witte & Laurent (1947) stated that A. lunulatus liddiardae Parker, 1933 , with 170 to 174 ventral scales in Togo, might be the valid name for a western subspecies which would differ by a higher number of ventrals from Aparallactus lunulatus nigricollaris Chabanaud, 1916 . This latter taxon has 133 to 140 ventrals and is known from Congo to Uganda. Furthermore, West African specimens are larger than those from Eastern Africa.

We compared our specimens of Aparallactus lunulatus from Togo with others from Central and East Africa (RCA: Seko, MNHN 1994.3234, MNHN 1996.6463-6465; Soudan:Boma,MNHN2001.0141, MNHN 2001.0182; Congo:MNHN 1916.263-264; Kenya: MNHN 1901.451, MNHN 1904.322). Specimens from West ( Togo) and Central Africa (RCA and Congo) agree very well with the diagnosis of Aparallactus lunulatus (Peters, 1854) , the type locality of which is Tete, Mozambique. They differ from specimens from Kenya and Sudan by 1) lack of black nuchal collar, 2) specimens from Kenya have a suture between the prefrontal and the 2nd supralabial, which is lacking in specimens from Sudan, and 3) specimens from Kenya have a stouter body than those from Sudan and West Africa. In contrast, variation in the number of ventral scales as compiled by de Witte & Laurent (1947) does not seem to be sound enough to regard these taxa as full species. It should be underlined that the descriptions provided by Chabanaud (1916) and Parker (1933) agree well with that of Aparallactus lunulatus (Peters, 1854) .

On this basis and following Loveridge (1944: 191), we refer to Aparallactus lunulatus the specimen from Togo identified by Sternfeld (1908b) as Aparallactus bocagii . However, the systematic status of these West African populations should be reevaluated on the basis of an adequate sample from throughout Africa.