Philothamnus cf. angolensis Bocage, 1882

Parrinha, Diogo, Calado, Francisco M. G., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2025, Echoes of a lost museum: Revision of the herpetological collections sent by Barbosa du Bocage from the Lisbon Museum to the British Museum of Natural History, Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 353-404 : 353-404

Philothamnus cf. angolensis Bocage, 1882

Specimen.

Angola: Caconda : BMNH 1882.6.9.5 (not examined) .

Comments.

Bocage and Günther exchanged letters in 1882 ( NHMA /DF/ZOO/200/21/39 , 41, 42), when Bocage was preparing his revision of the genus Philothamnus ( Bocage 1882 a) . In this context, Bocage sent a shipment of Philothamnus specimens to the British Museum, including a specimen from Caconda under the name Philothamnus irregularis ( NHMA /DF/ZOO/200/21/42 ). Although Bocage (1882 a) did not cite specimens from Caconda in his generic revision, he later mentioned material collected by Anchieta at this locality ( Bocage 1895 a). The specimen presented to the British Museum was later reported by Boulenger (1894 b) as Chlorophis irregularis , although subsequent works suggest that historical records of Philothamnus irregularis from Angola are referrable to either P. angolensis or P. hoplogaster ( Hughes 1985; Marques et al. 2018). The specimen presented by Bocage could not be located during our visits, thus precluding confirmation of its identity.