Lycophidion multimaculatum Boettger 1888

Lycophidion multimaculatum Boettger, 1888 Material (two specimens): One adult specimen (MHNCUP/REP 169, formerly UP-MHNFCP-017395), collected from Chingo [-11.20000º, 13.85000º, 11 m a.s.l.] Kwanza Sul Province, by Francisco Newton on unknown date; one adult specimen (MHNCUP/REP 326, formerly UP-MHNFCP-017396; Fig. S64), collected from unknown locality, by Francisco Newton in 1903. Comments: Lycophidion multimaculatum has a distribution ranging from Central African Republic to Tanzania and Angola (Chippaux & Jackson 2019). According to Marques et al. (2018), this species possibly exists throughout Angola, including the Cabinda enclave, with the exception of the southwestern desert regions. Ferreira (1904) published records of two adults of “ Lycophidium capense ” with no locality information, commenting that one had “very light color” (likely to match MHNCUP/REP 169) and the other was “almost totally black”; later he also published an adult from “Golungo Alto” (Ferreira 1906). Marques et al. (2018) stated that the majority of records attributed to Lycophidion capense Smith, 1831 from Angola are in fact L. multimaculatum, including the Newton Expedition specimens. Boettger (1888) first described the species as Lycophidium Capense multimaculata, but Broadley (1992) referred to it as a full species.
Published as part of Santos, Bruna S., Marques, Mariana P., Bauer, Aaron M. & Ceríaco, Luis M. P., 2021, Herpetological results of Francisco Newton's Zoological Expedition to Angola (1903 – 1906): a taxonomic revision and new records of a forgotten collection, pp. 1-80 in Zootaxa 5028 (1) on page 31, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5028.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5453967
{"references":["Boettger, O. (1888) Materialien zur Fauna des unteren Congo II. Reptilien und Batrachier. Bericht uber die senckenbergische naturforschende Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main, 1888, 3 - 108.","Chippaux, J. - P. & Jackson, K. (2019) Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 448 pp.","Marques, M. P., Ceriaco, L. M. P., Blackburn, D. C. & Bauer, A. M. (2018) Diversity and distribution of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles of Angola atlas of historical and bibliographic records (1840 - 2017). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Series 4, 65 (Supplement 2), 1 - 501.","Ferreira, J. B. (1904) Reptis e amphibios de Angola da regiao ao norte do Quanza (Colleccao Newton 1903). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7 (25), 111 - 117.","Ferreira, J. B. (1906) Algumas especies novas ou pouco conhecidas de amphibios e reptis de Angola (Coleccao Newton - 1903 - 1904). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturaes, Segunda Serie, 7 (26), 159 - 171.","Broadley, D. G. (1992) The taxonomy and zoogeography of the genus Lycophidion (Serpentes: Colubridae). The Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa, 40 (1), 30 - 36. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 04416651.1992.9650318"]}