Rediscovery, taxonomic status, and phylogenetic relationships of two rare and endemic snakes (Serpentes: Psammophinae) from the Angolan Escarpment.. Two Psammophiinae species from Angola

Two rare and endemic psammophines (Serpentes: Psammophinae) occur in Angola. The taxonomic status of Psammophylax rhombeatus ocellatus Bocage 1973 and Psammophis ansorgii Boulenger 1905 have long remained problematic, with both having varied past and present taxonomic assignments, and whose distributions may therefore present zoogeographic anomalies. Little was known of their biology, habitat associations, or phylogenetic relationships. New material was collected during biodiversity surveys of the Huila Escarpment near Lubango, Angola. It allowed fuller descriptions of scalation and live coloration for both species, and resolution of their taxonomic status. Genetic analysis confirms that both are specifical distinct and that P. ocellatus is more closely-related to P. multisquamis than to P. rhombeatus. In addition, within Psammophis, Jalla’s Sand Snake (Psammophis jallae Peracca, 1896) is sister to P. ansorgii, and Boulenger’s comment on similarities with P. crucifer are not supported.