1. Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca HAllOwEll 1857
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Wüster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-François, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zoltán T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, Wüster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel, and Broadley, Donald G.
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Naja melanoleuca ,Reptilia ,Naja ,Squamata ,Animalia ,Biodiversity ,Elapidae ,Chordata ,Taxonomy - Abstract
Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857 Naia haie var. melanoleuca Hallowell, 1857, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia: 61. Type locality: Gabon, syntypes ANSP 6875���76, 6878���79. Naja haje var. leucosticta Fischer, 1885, Jahr. Hamburg. Wiss. Anst. 2: 115, pl. v, fig. 11. Type locality: Cameroon and Ogoou�� River, Gabon, syntypes ZMH 4280, 7048, 7299���7302. Naia melanoleuca; Boulenger, 1896: 376 (part, vars. A [a,b] & B [a,b]) Naja melanoleuca melanoleuca; Laurent, 1956: 290, pl. xxvi, fig. 2. Naja (Boulengerina) melanoleuca ; Wallach et al., 2009. Boulengerina melanoleuca; Wallach et al., 2014: 122. Aspidelaps bocagei Sauvage, 1884: 204 (type locality: Gabon and Majumba; holotype MNHN 1884.0015) has been listed as a synonym of N. melanoleuca (e.g., Broadley, 1983; Wallach et al., 2014; Cer��aco et al., 2017), but is in fact a synonym of Naja annulata, as is evident from Sauvage���s description, which notes approximately 20 dark double bands along the entire body length, and 21 mid-dorsal scale rows (see also Schmidt, 1923). Diagnosis: DOrsum blAck, OftEN with 1���3 sEmidividEd yEllOw crOssbANds ON thE NEck, thE first mAy bE AN OcEllus; vENtEr yEllOw with 4 tO 6 blAck bANds iN thE first 100 vENtrAls, thErEAftEr uNifOrm blAck. Variation: DOrsAl scAlE rOws ON NEck 19���27, At midbOdy 19 (vEry rArEly 17 Or 21); vENtrAls 209���230; subcAudAls 59���74 (TAblE 8). SuprAlAbiAls 7, thE third ANd fOurth ENtEriNg thE Orbit; iNfrAlAbiAls 8, thE first fOur iN cONtAct with thE ANtEriOr subliNguAls, NO cuNEAtE; prEOculAr 1; pOstOculArs 3 (vEry rArEly 2 Or 4); tEmpOrAls 1+2 Or 1+3; NuchAls bOrdEriNg tEmpOrAls 5���9, usuAlly 7. Colouration: HEAd brOwN, thE suprAlAbiAls bArrEd blAck ANd yEllOw, chiN yEllOw. BlAck AbOvE, sOmEtimEs A yEllOw mONOcEllAtE mArkiNg ON thE hOOd, Or 1���3 smAll yEllOw blOtchEs, thE dOrsAl scAlEs mAy bE tippEd with whitE iN juvENilEs (Fig. 8). YEllOw Or whitE bElOw with 4 tO 6 blAck bANds ON thE first 100 vENtrAls, usuAlly uNifOrm blAck thErEAftEr. Largest recorded: 2250+420 = 2670 mm, frOm MONiyA, IbAdAN, NigEriA (ButlEr, 1982: 110). Suggested common name: CENtrAl AfricAN fOrEst cObrA. Distribution: CENtErEd ON thE CONgO BAsiN, wEst tO sOuthwEstErN NigEriA ANd pOssibly sOuthErN BENiN, sOuth tO NOrthErN ANgOlA, NOt ExtENdiNg EAst Of thE AlbErtiNE Rift VAllEy, whErE it is rEplAcEd by N. subfulva. ThE wEstErN rANgE limits ArE pOOrly uNdErstOOd. POpulAtiONs frOm sOuthEAstErN NigEriA ArE clEArly AssigNAblE tO this fOrm. A fEw spEcimENs frOm LAmtA, sOuthErN BENiN (IRD 12.B, IRD 54.B, IRD 60.B), ANd GhANA (MNHN 1983.0663���64; NO furthEr lOcAlity iNfOrmAtiON) AlsO AppEAr tO bE AssigNAblE tO N. melanoleuca., Published as part of W��ster, Wolfgang, Chirio, Laurent, Trape, Jean-Fran��ois, Ineich, Ivan, Jackson, Kate, Greenbaum, Eli, Barron, Cesar, Kusamba, Chifundera, Nagy, Zolt��n T., Storey, Richard, Hall, Cara, W��ster, Catharine E., Barlow, Axel & Broadley, Donald G., 2018, Integration of nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences and morphology reveals unexpected diversity in the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca) species complex in Central and West Africa (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Zootaxa 4455 (1), DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4455.1.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1456971, {"references":["Hallowell, E. (1857) Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Henry A. Ford. Proceedings of Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 9, 48 - 72.","Fischer, J. G. (1885) Ichthyologische und herpetologische Bemerkungen. V. Herpetologische Bemerkungen. Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten, 2, 82 - 121.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History) III. British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 54273","Laurent, R. F. (1956) Contribution a l'herpetologie de la region des Grands Lacs de l'Afrique centrale. I. Generalites. II. Cheloniens. III. Ophidiens. Annales du Musee royal du Congo Belge, 48, 1 - 390.","Wallach, V., Wuster, W. & Broadley, D. G. (2009) In praise of subgenera: taxonomic status of cobras of the genus Naja Laurenti (Serpentes: Elapidae). Zootaxa, 2236, 26 - 36.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World. A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1227 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / b 16901","Sauvage, H. E. (1884) Notice sur une collection de reptiles et de poissons recueillie a Majumba, Congo. Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique de France, 9, 199 - 204.","Broadley, D. G. (1983) FitzSimons' Snakes of Southern Africa. Delta Books, Johannesburg, 376 pp.","Ceriaco, L. M. P., Marques, M. P., Schmitz, A. & Bauer, A. M. (2017) The \" Cobra-preta \" of Sao Tome Island, Gulf of Guinea, is a new species of Naja Laurenti, 1768 (Squamata: Elapidae). Zootaxa, 4324 (1), 121 - 141. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4324.1","Schmidt, K. P. (1923) Contributions to the herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909 - 1915. Part II. Snakes. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 49, 1 - 146.","Butler, J. A. (1982) Capture au Nigeria d'un Naja noir et blanc de grande taille et notes sur les autres Najas de l'Ouest Africain. Notes Africaines, 176, 110 - 111."]}
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- 2018
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