© Jean Nicolas/C. de Haan. These are about 140 cm long, 4 year old captive bred adults from the same clutch. Their social and reproductive behaviour showed that the two top left are males, the others two females (C. de Haan, unpubl.)
P. phillipsi lupuli, with C. de Haan, photo by M. de Haan ©
| Recognition | What is the difference between P. phillipsi and
P. occidentalis?
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| Subspecies | Psammophis phillipsi occidentalis WERNER 1919 Psammophis phillipsi phillipsi HALLOWELL 1844 "Whilst P. occidentalis is clearly a variant of P. phillipsi its preponderance within the Cameroon to Uganda area encourages us to give it formal recognition and so that data appertaining to it will not be attributed to P. philllipsi, we would prefer to give it specific status." Hughes and Wade, 2004) |
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| Common Names | Olive Grass Racer, Phillips’ Sand Snake | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Synonym | Coluber phillipsi HALLOWELL 1844: 169 Psammophis Phillipsi — HALLOWELL 1854: 100 Psammophis Phillipsi — HALLOWELL 1857: 69 Psammophis regularis STERNFELD 1908 (fide HUGHES 2004) Psammophis sibilans — SCHMIDT 1923: 111 (fide BROADLEY 1977) Psammophis sibilans phillipsii — LOVERIDGE 1940 Psammophis sibilans phillipsii — BRISCOE 1949 Psammophis phillipsi — BROADLEY 1977 Psammophis phillipsi — BOYCOTT 1992 Psammophis phillipsi — AUERBACH 1987: 170 Psammophis phillipsii — BROADLEY 1998 Psammophis cf. phillipsi — PAUWELS et al. 2004 Psammophis phillipsi occidentalis WERNER 1919 Psammophis sibilans occidentalis WERNER 1919 Psammophis phillipsi occidentalis — HUGHES & WADE 2004 Psammophis occidentalis — CHIRIO & LEBRETON 2007 |
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| Description | Length: the specimen in the above photograph with C. de Haan was 205 cm when it died. When photographed, its length was 195 cm. "I called it P. phil. lupuli after Wolfgang Böhme, because he and I think there is an undescribed Psammophis in the Sahel from N-Senegal to at least N-Sudan that easily reaches 2 m. It is mainly observed passing by like a TGV in open savannah and is sometimes photographed doing this. I still hope somebody will take it on video" (C. de Haan. pers. remark). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Distribution | Senegal, Gambia (HÅKANSSON 1981),
Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, S Ivory Coast, S Ghana (Accra), S Togo,
S Benin, S Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo (Brazzaville), Central
African Republic, elevation 0-1200 m. "Snakes of the genus Psammophis are widespread in diverse habitats of west Africa, from dry savannas to moist rainforests. In southern Nigeria, P. phillipsi occurs with two 'forms', one with a divided cloacal shield (CSD) and one with an entire cloacal shield (CSE). These 'forms' were suggested to be possibly distinct species in a recent review by Hughes (1999). However, as no data are available on the variation in natural history, if any, between these two supposed species, we collected data on local distribution and natural history traits of these 'forms' in several localities of southern Nigeria. Out of 32 localities examined, sympatric CSD and CSE specimens occurred in 28.1% of the localities, CSD specimens alone occurred in 68.8%, and CSE specimens alone occurred in 3.1%. At five additional localities, where a higher number of specimens was examined (range 21-41 specimens), CSD specimens were clearly dominant over CSE specimens (on average 88.8% of specimens in each population), independently of the habitat types, and there was no apparent effect of longitude on the frequency of occurrence of CSD specimens. Both 'forms' proved to be habitat generalists (often inhabiting deforested areas and suburbs), and very similar in terms of type of prey eaten (mainly Agama lizards and Mabuya skinks, but also small mammals), and apparently also in terms of micro-habitats used for foraging (clearings into forested zones). Overall, there was no evident difference between these 'forms' in terms of the main ecological traits examined here." (Luiselli et al., 2004 ) |
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| Types | Syntypes: (2) ANSP 5111-12 Syntypes: ZMB 9993 (2 specimens) [Psammophis sibilans var. tettensis] |
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| breeding | See the article by Cesare Colli (2018). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comment | Closely related to P. sibilans and both may represent the same
species. P. p. occidentalis may include specimens some have identified
as P. subtaeniatus sudanensis and others would include in P. rukwae. Psammophis sibilans var. mossambica PETERS 1882: 122 has been elevated to full species status. Nigerian specimens are consistent with descriptions of P. phillipsi by Hallowell (1844), Villiers (1975), Hughes and Barry (1969), and Broadley (1977) in all features (e.g., plain colouration, shape of the snout) except for the presence of a divided cloacal scale in several specimens (see Hughes, 1999; Hughes and Wade, 2004). Although the condition of the cloacal scale has been considered a diagnostic feature between phillipsi (cloacal scale entire) and sibilans (or rukwae, following Brandstätter, 1995; cloacal scale divided; see also Chippaux, 1999), some authors named all specimens (including those with divided cloacal scale) as ‘phillipsi’ (e.g., Akani et al., 2002a, 2002b, 2003). Hughes (1999) found that cloacal-scale-entire (CSE) specimens dominate in his collections of phillipsi from West Africa (Liberia to Ghana), and cloacal-scale-divided (CSD) specimens dominate in Nigeria, Cameroon, and central African forests. He also concluded that “the West African, unpatterned specimens which Luiselli et al. have in the past identified as “P. phillipsi” (e.g. Hughes and Barry, 1968) comprises two forms which are likely to be distinct species: P. phillipsi is the name for the specimens from forest clearings with CSE condition; and those from savannah and sympatric with “P. sibilans”, are what Brandstätter treats as a new subspecies (“forest margin”)”, with mostly a CSD condition. |
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| Pictures |
Francis Cosquieri published an album on Facebook. |
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| References |
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