Rhamnophis aethiopissa Gunther 1862

Rhamnophis aethiopissa (Günther, 1862) MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 1 specimen (MRAC 29717), Agome, near Atakpame. MORPHOLOGY. — TL 840 mm; 17 MSR smooth and oblique, vertebral row keeled; 166 Ven, keeled; 146 Sc, paired; anal divided; 8 supralabials; 9 infralabials; 1 preocular; 2 postoculars; 1 temporal. DISTRIBUTION. — This species is a forest-dweller. On the basis of voucher specimens, Hulselmans et al. (1970) and Leaché et al. (2006) also mentioned its occurrence in ER IV. Werner (1898), Sternfeld (1908b) and Loveridge (1944) recorded it from Adele (Bismarkburg), Kete Kratchi and Missahohe. REMARK This species is sometimes placed in the genus Thrasops Hallowell, 1857. In absence of revision of this group of arboreal species, we follow Williams & Wallach (1989) and Pauwels & Vande Weghe (2008) and recognize the validity of the genus Rhamnophis Günther, 1862. It should be noted that the specific nomen aethiopissa is not an adjective but a noun in apposition, meaning "an Aethiopian woman".
Published as part of Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude, Trape, Jean François, David, Patrick, Ohler, Annemarie, Dubois, Alain & Glitho, Isabelle Adolé, 2011, The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems, pp. 325-360 in Zoosystema 33 (3) on page 336, DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4, http://zenodo.org/record/4547017
{"references":["LEACHE A. D., RODEL M. - O., LINKEM C. W., DIAZ R. E., HILLERS A. & FUJITA M. K. 2006. - Biodiversity in a forest island: reptiles and amphibians of the West African Togo hills. Amphibian and Reptile Conservation 4: 22 - 45.","WERNER F. 1898. - Uber Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun undTunis dem Kgl. Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin. Verhandlungen der kaiserlichkoniglichen Zoologisch-botanischen Gesellschaft inWien 58: 191 - 230, 1 plate.","STERNFELD L. 1908 b. - Die Schlangenfauna Togos. Mittheilungen Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 4: 207 - 236.","LOVERIDGE A. 1944. - Further revisions of African snake genera. Bulletin of the the Museum of Comparative Zoology 95: 121 - 247.","WILLIAMS K. L. & WALLACH V. 1989. - Snakes of the World. Vol. 1. Synopsis of Snakes Generic Name. Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar: viii + 234 p.","PAUWELS O. S. G. & VANDE WEGHE J. P. 2008. - Les Reptiles du Gabon. Washington, Smithsonian Institution: 272 p."]}