Authors
Werner Conradie, Chad Keates, Ninda L Baptista, Javier Lobón-Rovira
Publication date
2022
Journal
ZooKeys
Volume
1121
Pages
97
Publisher
Pensoft Publishers
Description
African Shovel-snout snakes (Prosymna Gray, 1849) are small, semi-fossorial snakes with a unique compressed and beak-like snout. Prosymna occur mainly in the savanna of sub-Saharan Africa. Of the 16 currently recognised species, four occur in Angola: Prosymnaambigua Bocage, 1873, P. angolensis Boulenger, 1915, P. frontalis (Peters, 1867), and P. visseri FitzSimons, 1959. The taxonomical status and evolutionary relationships of P. angolensis have never been assessed due to the lack of genetic material. This species is known to occur from western Angola southwards to Namibia, and eastwards to Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. The species shows considerable variation in dorsal colouration across its range, and with the lower ventral scales count, an ‘eastern race’was suggested. In recent years, Prosymna material from different parts of Angola has been collected, and with phylogenetic analysis and …
Total citations
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