Philothamnus chifunderai GREENBAUM, PAUWELS, GVOŽDÍK, VAUGHAN, CHANEY, BUONTEMPO, ARISTOTE, MUNINGA & ENGELBRECHT, 2023
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Philothamnus chifunderai
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| Higher Taxa | Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Chifundera’s Green Snake |
| Synonym | Philothamnus chifunderai GREENBAUM, PAUWELS, GVOŽDÍK, VAUGHAN, CHANEY, BUONTEMPO, ARISTOTE, MUNINGA & ENGELBRECHT 2023 Chlorophis carinatus — BOULENGER 1915 [part] Chlorophis carinatus — BOULENGER 1919 [part] Chlorophis carinatus — SCHMIDT 1923 [part] Chlorophis carinatus — DE WITTE 1933, 1941 Chlorophis carinatus — LOVERIDGE 1936 [part] Chlorophis carinatus — LOVERIDGE 1942 Chlorophis carinatus — BOGERT 1940 [part]) Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus — LOVERIDGE 1951 [part] Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus — LOVERIDGE 1958 [part] Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus — DE WITTE 1953 1962 Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus — CAPOCACCIA 1961 [part] Philothamnus heterodermus carinatus — PITMAN 1974 [part]) Chlorophis heterodermus carinatus — THYS VAN DEN AUDENAERDE 1965 Chlorophis heterodermus carinatus — THYS VAN DEN AUDENAERDE 1966 Philothamnus carinatus — HUGHES 1985 [part] Philothamnus carinatus — BROADLEY & COTTERILL 2004 Philothamnus carinatus — WALLACH et al. 2014 [part] Philothamnus carinatus — MARQUES et al. 2018 Philothamnus carinatus — SPAWLS et al. 2018 [part] Philothamnus carinatus — CHIPPAUX & JACKSON 2019 [part] |
| Distribution | Democratic Republic of Congo (Katanga) Type locality: Npenda village, east of Lake Tumba, Équateur Province, DRC (−00.7465, 18.2243, 311 m asl). |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: UTEP 22601 (field no. ELI 2209), an adult male. Collected by Batwa forest people and brought to Eli Greenbaum, Chifundera Kusamba, Wandege M. Muninga, and Mwenebatu M. Aristote on 8 July 2013. Paratopotypes: UTEP 22602 (field no. ELI 2210), an adult male; UTEP 22603 (ELI 2211), an adult female; both collected with the holotype. Paratypes: RBINS 2729 (formerly under RBINS 10068), an adult male, and RBINS 2730 (formerly under RBINS 10254), an adult female, from Bolongo (Lisala), Mongala Province, DRC (02.1500, 21.5000). Collected by Schoonbroodt between 1 November and 8 December 1950. RMCA 16546, an adult female, from Bokoro, Mai-Ndombe Province, DRC (−02.8327, 18.3829). Collected by E. Jans in 1952. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Philothamnus chifunderai can be distinguished from most congeners by the presence of 13 scale rows at midbody, an undivided anal scale, and a greenish, tan, or greyish dorsum in life with dark brown or black crossbars (rarely lacking crossbars). Philothamnus chifunderai differs from P. carinatus by having a significantly smaller TL and significantly fewer SCDL in both sexes, moderate 16S mitochondrial sequence divergence (2.0–3.2%), and six amino acid differences in the studied cyt b and ND4 fragments. Philothamnus chifunderai differs from P. brunneus by having a greenish, tan, or greyish dorsum in life with dark brown or black crossbars (vs. brownish dorsum always without crossbars in P. brunneus), moderate mitochondrial sequence divergence in the 16S gene (2.2–3.2%), and allopatric distribution in Central and East Africa (vs. West Africa in P. brunneus). (Greenbaum et al. 2023) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet is a patronym for Dr Zacharie Kusamba Chifundera (who publishes under the name Chifundera Kusamba) of the Centre de Recherche en Sciences Naturelles, Lwiro and National Pedagogical University, Kinshasa, DRC. Known to his friends and colleagues as Chif, Chifundera, or Zacharie, we are inspired by Chifundera’s lifelong passion for snakes and other herpetofauna of his native Democratic Republic of the Congo. The senior author owes his entire career in the country to the ongoing collaboration he established with Chifundera in 2007, and it is an honour to name a new species of snake for him. |
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