66 



D.G. BROADLEY AND V. WALLACH 



Habitat. Rain forest and gallery forest from sea level up to 2000 

 metres. 



Distribution. Guinea east to the Democratic Republic of the 

 Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and western Kenya, south to northern 

 Angola and northwestern Zambia (Broadley, 1991) (Fig. 5).. 



REMARKS. Roux-Esteve (1965) placed R. a. ituriensis in the syn- 

 onymy of the typical form and R. a. elgonensis hardly warrants 

 subspecific recognition. Both subspecies were based on variable 

 characters: the number of midbody scale rows, subcaudals and 

 supralabials, and there are no major breaks in the distribution of the 

 species. 



Rhamnophis batesii (Boulenger) 



Spotted Dagger-tooth Tree Snake 



Thrasops batesii Boulenger, 1908, Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (8) 2: 93. 

 Type localities: Akok and Efulen, Cameroon; Trape & Roux- 

 Esteve, 1995: 40; Chippaux, 1999: 99. 



Rhamnophis batesii Schmidt, 1923: 83, fig. 5; Loveridge, 1944: 

 125; Laurent, 1956: 355, PI. xx, fig. l;Perret, 1961: 1 36; Villiers, 

 1966: 1739; Stucki-Stirn, 1979: 339. 



Diagnosis. Dorsal scales in 13 rows at midbody, vertebral row 

 enlarged; ventrals 163-179; cloacal entire; subcaudals 92-1 19; two 

 labials in contact with lowest postocular. 



Description. Supralabials 7 (rarely 6 or 8), the fourth & fifth 

 (rarely third & fourth or fifth & sixth) entering orbit; infralabials 8 or 

 9, the first 4-6 in contact with anterior sublinguals; preocular 1 

 (rarely 2); postoculars 3 (rarely 2 or 4), 2 labials in contact with the 

 lowest; a single temporal; 4 occipitals (3 in MRAC 19070 due to 

 fusion of right hand pair; the median pair transversely divided in 

 NMZB 13206). Dorsals smooth in 13-13-11 or 13-13-9 rows, verte- 

 bral row enlarged; ventrals 163-179; cloacal entire; subcaudals 

 92-123 pairs. 



COLORATION IN LIFE. Dorsum pale violet-brown, many scales 

 black at the base and along lower edge, giving a plaited effect to the 

 supracaudals. Chin and throat cream, rest of venter pale green, with 

 black labial sutures and numerous black spots or blotches on the 

 venter. 



SIZE. Largest 3 (MCZ 38393 - Batouri District. Cameroon) 827 + 

 390 = 1217 mm; largest 9 (BMNH — ) 1450 + 350 = 1800 mm. 



Habitat. Rain forest between 400 and 1000 metres. 



DISTRIBUTION. Cameroon, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville, east 

 through the Congo basin to the Orientale and Kivu Provinces of the 

 D.R.C. (Fig. 5). 



Xyelodontophis gen. nov. 



Diagnosis. A member of the tribe Dispholidini, differing from 

 the other genera in the development of strongly curved rear maxil- 

 lary teeth, which have sharp flanges anteriorly and posteriorly and 

 narrow at the base, hence the name Xyelodontophis = Dagger-tooth 

 Snake. Both species of Rhamnophis also have 'dagger-shaped' rear 

 maxillary teeth, but they are less well developed and the teeth taper 

 from base to tip, while Thelotornis and Dispholidus have large 

 deeply grooved rear fangs. The new genus agrees with Thrasops and 

 Thelotornis in having a shallowly forked ectopterygoid bone, whereas 

 Rhamnophis and Dispholidus have a deeply forked ectopterygoid. 

 In general form and scalation the new snake agrees with Thelotornis, 

 but it lacks the distinctive horizontal pupil of that genus. 



Xyelodontophis uluguruensis sp. nov. 



Dagger-tooth Vine Snake 



HOLOTYPE. NMZB 7443 (Figs If, 2a, & 4a) an adult female from 

 Lupanga Peak, Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania (06° 52' S: 37° 43' E), 

 collected by Jon Lovett in November, 1983 (KMH 2636). Named 

 for the Uluguru Mountains, to which it is probably endemic. 



PARATYPE. ZMB 48 1 53, an adult male from Bondwa Peak, Uluguru 

 Mountains (06° 54 S: 37° 40' E) at 1 650 m, collected by D. Emmrich 

 (DE413) in November, 1989. 



DIAGNOSIS. As for Xyelodontophis gen. nov. 



Description (paratype variations in parentheses). Rostral feebly 

 recurved onto upper surface of snout; very large nostril in a single 

 nasal; loreals 2; preocular 1; postoculars 3; temporals 1 +3; a pair of 

 large occipitals behind the temporals, separated by elongate interpa- 

 rietal; supralabials 8, the fourth and fifth entering the orbit; infralabials 

 9, the first four or five in contact with the anterior sublinguals. 

 Dorsals elongate, narrow, in 21-19-13 rows, moderately to feebly 

 keeled, with single large apical pits; ventrals angular, but not keeled, 

 168 (169); cloacal longitudinally divided; subcaudals 132+ (18+), 

 tail truncated. The paratype male has an umbilical scar on ventrals 

 147-149. 



Coloration in preservative. Top of head brown, shields nar- 

 rowly margined with black, labials, chin and throat immaculate. 

 Body grey-brown, bases of scales (and interstitial skin anteriorly) 

 black; venter uniform pale grey apart from some irregular brown 

 margins to the free edges of the ventrals. The paratype male has the 

 head and nape bronze, supralabials immaculate yellow, rest of 

 dorsum black speckled with green and brown in life (Emmrich, pers. 

 comm.); chin and throat yellow, rest of venter rapidly darkening to 

 black with a few light markings. 



Visceral anatomy (Tables 2^1). Umbilical scar-vent interval 

 11.6% VS (10.7-12.5%); peritoneum black; hyoid posterior tip 

 7.8% (7.6-8.1%); heart short 2.3% (2.0-2.6%), midpoint 25.2% 

 (24.9-25.5%), junction of systemic arches ventrolateral and 0.71% 

 (0.69-0.74%) heart length posterior to heart, right arch 0.33 diameter 

 of left at junction; heart-liver gap 5.7% (5.5-5.9%), heart-liver 

 interval 35.8% (34.3-37.2%); liver long 27.8% (26.4-29.2%) and 

 narrow, midpoint 46.0% (45.7^16.2%), nearly contacting the gall 

 bladder (liver-gall bladder gap 0.1% [0-0.2%]); liver-gall bladder 

 interval 29.3% (28.3-30.4%), liver-kidney gap 28.0% (27.6-28.4%), 

 liver-kidney interval 65.5%, liver length/right lung length ratio 

 0.40; gall bladder 1.4% (1.2-1.6%), midpoint 60.7% (59.9-61.5%), 

 located anterior to the subequal pancreas 1.7% (1.5-1.9%) with 

 small spleen (0.7%) attached cranially; gall bladder-gonad gap 

 10.7% (9.7-11.8%), gall bladder-gonad interval 23.0% (22.8- 

 23.2%); gonads light yellow in color, right testis 4.8% (MP = 

 74.4%), left testis 4.1% (MP = 79.9%), total testis midpoint 77.4%; 

 right ovary 5.3% (MP = 74.9%) with 6 small ova and 7 follicles, left 

 ovary 4.9% (MP = 81.6%) with 5 small ova and 8 follicles, total 

 ovary midpoint 78.0%, total gonad midpoint 77.7%; gonad-kidney 

 gap 4.8% (4.4-5.3%); adrenal glands orange, very narrow and 

 elongate, adjacent to posterior end of gonads, right adrenal 2.3% 

 (2.2-2.5%), midpoint 75.4% (74.8-76.1%), left adrenal 2.6% (2.5- 

 2.7%), midpoint 81 .6% (8 1 .2-82. 1%), total adrenal midpoint 78.5% 

 (78.4-78.6%); gall bladder-kidney gap 26.4% (26.3-26.5%), gall 

 bladder-kidney interval 37.5% (36.3-38.8%); kidneys dark brown, 

 segmented but compact with deep creases, right kidney 9.2% (8.0- 

 10.4%) with 20 segments, midpoint 92.4%, right kidney length/liver 

 length ratio 0.34; left kidney 7.0% (6.1-7.9%) with 21 segments, 



