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Thelotornis kirtlandii (HALLOWELL, 1844)

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Forest Vine Snake, Bird Snake, Twig Snake
G: Lianennatter, Vogelnatter, Graue Baumnatter 
SynonymLeptophis kirtlandii HALLOWELL 1844: 62
Oxybelis Lecomptei DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 821
Tragophis rufulus DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 827
Dryophis Kirtlandii — HALLOWELL 1854: 100
Oxybelis violacea FISCHER 1856: 91
Oxybelis Kirtlandii — HALLOWELL 1857: 59
Dryophis Kirtlandii — BOCAGE 1866: 48
Thelotornis Kirtlandii — FISCHER 1884: 11
Dryiophis Kirtlandii — BOCAGE 1895 (part.)
Thelotornis kirtlandii — SCHMIDT 1923: 112
Thelotornis kirtlandii — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Thelotornis kirtlandii — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Thelotornis kirtlandii — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 222
Thelotornis kirtlandii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 728
Thelotornis kirtlandii — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 505 
DistributionSomalia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania (single record from the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika), Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire; except in the north), Congo (Brazzaville), Angola, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Central African Republic, Republic of South Sudan (RSS)

Type locality: “Liberia”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 5271 
Diagnosis 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy partly after BROADLEY 2001.

Photograph in Chippaux (1999 and 2001) is actually T. capensis (fide PAUWELS & BRANCH in HR 34: 272).

Distribution: see map in Broadley 2001: 59 (Fig. 2). For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Dr. Jared Potter Kirtland (1793-1877), an American naturalist, botanist, doctor, legislator, teacher, and writer. He founded the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and Cleveland Medical College. 
References
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