Boaedon broadleyi, Hallermann & Hawlitschek, 2025

Hallermann, Jakob & Hawlitschek, Oliver, 2025, Two new species of Boaedon from Ethiopia and Somalia, with a review of the species of East Africa, Zootaxa 5569 (1), pp. 119-137 : 125-128

Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov.

( Figs. 3 , 4 )

Lamprophis fuliginosus Broadley Doria & Wigge 2003: 236 Photo 81 from Addis Ababa

Lamprophis fuliginosus Largen & Spawls 2010: 469 Fig. 300

Boaedon fuliginosus Spawls et al. 2023: 442 , 443 from Lake Langano

Holotype: ZMH R08485 (DNA voucher JH 10 ): an adult female from near Addis Ababa (Abada) (approx. 09° 01’ 48” N 38° 04’ 24” E, 2552 m), Oromia Region, collected by Dr. Peter Angenstein during the end of the 1980s, kept in captivity until 2006 by Ralf Hörold and donated to the Zoological Museum Hamburg ( ZMH) in Dec. 2006 ( Fig. 3 )

Paratypes (13): All from Ethiopia: MNHN 4342 , an adult female from Ethiopia (Abyssinie) with no specific locality, received by natural produce dealer Deyrolle (Henry or Emile ) and collected by A. M. J. Raffray in 1874 ; ZFMK 16231-32 , adult females from Negele (approx. 07° 41’ 00” N 39° 15’ 00” E, 1575 m), Sidamo Province , Oromia Region, collected by H. Rupp, 28. Feb. 1975 ; ZFMK 16293 , an adult female from Lake Koka (approx. 08° 23’ 31” N 39° 05’ 00” E, 1595 m) Oromia Region, collected by H. Rupp, Sept. 1973 ; ZFMK 16294-95 , adult female and juvenile respectively from Arba Minch (approx. 06° 02’ 00” N 37° 33’ 00” E, 1285 m) Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region , collected by H. Rupp, 26. Mar. 1975 ; ZFMK 16799 , an adult male from Kaki (approx. 08° 56’ 00” N 35° 03’ 00” E, 3000 m) Tulu Welel mountains , Oromia Region, collected by G. Nikolaus, 20.Nov. 1975 ; ZFMK 19159 , an adult female from Chifra ( Sifra ) (approx. 11° 36’ 14.2” N 40° 12’ 35.86” E, 825 m) Afar Region ; ZFMK 84994 a juvenile from Jijiga (approx. 9° 40’ 00” N 38° 45’ 00” E, 1634 m) Somali Region ; ZMH R08486 , an adult male, same data as holotype , ZMH R11333 (DNA voucher JH 59 ), an adult female same data as holotype , ZMH R11341-42 , an adult male and female respectively, same data as holotype but donated to the ZMH in 2019 .

Diagnosis. Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov. can be distinguished from most congeners by a beige to light brown to reddish ground colour, with two short white stripes on the sides of the head. The upper stripe begins just behind the eye on the upper postocular, runs through the lower part of the parietal and the upper first temporal and terminates on the second temporal; the lower stripe passes from the lower postocular through the first temporal and terminates on the last supralabial. Frequently three supralabials contact the eye and two preoculars, the upper one much larger than the lower one touching the frontal. PAR is equal to the distance between the frontal and the rostral scale. Middorsal scale rows varies between 27 and 33 (mean 29.1), ventrals are 223–240 in females and 191–224 in males and subcaudals 45–55 and 59–63 respectively. ( Table 3 )

Within Ethiopian Boaedon , Boaedon broadley sp. nov. differs from Ethiopian B. sp. (black form) and Somalian B. subniger sp. nov. by the combination of its reddish, olive-brown or light brown body colouration with two short head stripes (versus blackish-brown or dark brown body colouration and head stripes missing) with the first two body scale rows uncoloured (versus no dorsals uncoloured) and a higher average of mid-dorsal scale counts of 29.1 (versus 27.0 in B. subniger sp. nov.). Boaedon maculatus has an additional row of scales between the supralabials and loreal between nasal and preocular scale (versus no row of scales) and 10–11 supralabials (versus 8). Extralimital species: Boaedon montanus ( Trape et al. 2022) differs genetically from B. broadleyi sp. nov. There is no differential diagnostic character to distinguish the species of B. montanus in its hole distribution area from B. broadleyi because all meristic characters vary in different populations of this species. Within the type series of B. montanus one character is different: no contact of the upper preocular with the frontal (versus contact) and PAR longer than distance of frontal to rostral (versus PAR equal to distance from frontal to rostral). Specimens of the Uganda clade ( B. montanus ) and from South Sudan ( cf. montanus ) predominantly have a dark brown coloration (versus light brown in broadleyi ) and, variably, the preocular is separate from the frontal or in contact with it, predominantly two supralabials touching the eye (91%) (versus 55% in broadleyi sp. nov.) and frequently a lower mean of MSR of 28.0– 28.8 in all populations (versus 29.1in B. broadleyi sp. nov.) (table 2). B. perisilvestris with dark brown colouration and no clear head or body lines (versus headlines present and light brown or olive brown colour in B. broadleyi sp. nov.) has PAR longer than distance of margin of frontal to end of snout (versus PAR equal in B. broadleyi sp. nov.). B. paralineatus differs in having clearly marginated light headlines anterior and posterior to eye and on anterior part of body (versus short head stripes not well contrasted and no body line in broadleyi sp. nov.); B. capensis species complex differs in having loreal length/high ratio mainly 2 or lower (versus 2 and higher) and a dorsal scale count mean of 27.0 (versus 29.1 in B. broadleyi sp. nov.).

Description of holotype: Adult female, 1196 mm SVL; head sub-triangular, slightly distinct from the neck, HL 3.3 % of SVL (39.6 mm); interocular distance 13.7 mm, pupil elliptical, eye diameter 3.2 mm; loreal rectangular, about 2.8 x as long (5 mm) as high (1.8 mm); body cylindrical; tail moderately short (10.3 % of SVL). Supralabials 8/8, 3rd, 4th and 5th on both sides contacting orbit; infralabials 9/10, 1st on each side in contact behind mental, first three on both sides in contact with anterior chin shields and 4th on both sides in contact with posterior chin shields; 2 preoculars on both sides, upper one more than two times larger than lower and touching frontal on the left side, on the right head side it is separated from the frontal by the contact of prefrontal with supraocular; 2 postoculars in contact with the lower part of parietal scale caudally, upper postocular in contact with supraocular anterior-dorsally. Lower postocular in contact with 5 th and 6 th supralabial (both sides of head) ventrally; temporals 1+2+3 on both sides; two internasals; nasal divided; frontal longer (8.3 mm) than wide (4.4 mm); on anterior left border of frontal a small scale is intercalated between frontal and upper preocular; dorsal scales smooth, 22 scale rows one head-length posterior to jaw rictus, 29 scale rows at midbody, 21 scale rows one head length anterior to vent; ventrals 243; anal plate entire; 53 subcaudals, all paired.

Coloration of holotype in life. The coloration is light olive with a creamy venter, first dorsal scale row creamy. Two short white strips on side of head continuing only on head to the end of supralabials and temporals respectively. In preservative as above but body and head light brown above, first lower dorsal scale row creamy as venter.

Variation. Variation in measurements and scalation of the paratypes of B. broadleyi sp. nov. is presented in Table 3 . The ground colour of the paratypes in preservative is predominantly light brown in 12 of 13 specimens, one is greyish. Lower 1–3 dorsal scale rows have the same colouration as venter, creamy or whitish. All paratypes have two short white head lines, the extension of the upper head line varies a little, in some specimens it begins on prefrontals runs through preoculars, supraocular, upper postocular, lower part of parietals and terminate on second or third temporals. In others, it begins on upper postocular and runs until first or third temporals. In 5 of 13 paratypes there are three supralabials in contact with the eye. In others only two supralabials are in contact. In all paratypes the upper preocular is in contact with the frontal and two postoculars are in contact with the descending part of the parietal scale. There exist some photo vouchers by Vladimír Tralin from Langano and Filtu which seems to belong to the new species. The colour in life varies from beige, light brown to almost brown. The brown coloured specimen (TMHC 2021.05.976) with two short light headlines from Yabello (DNA voucher TMHC 2021.05.976) belongs definitively to B. broadleyi sp. nov. ( Fig 1 ).

Distribution. The species is currently known from different localities in elevations from approx. 750 m up to 3000 m asl in Ethiopian Regional States in Afar, Oromia, Somali and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ National Regional State and most probably in Northern Somalia (Somaliland) ( Fig. 2 ).

Habitat and Natural History notes. The specimens were found in savannas, grasslands and woodlands, absent in arid or semi-arid habitats.

Etymology. The specific epithet is a patronym in the masculine genitive singular name of Donald George (Don) Broadley, a British born Herpetologist and emeritus curator of the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. We honour his extensive work on African reptiles especially on Boaedon , which he could not publish before he died in 2016.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Phylogenetic tree (BI/ML) based on the mitochondrial 16S dataset. Numbers at nodes are support values for Bayesian posterior probabilities (above nodes) and ML bootstraps (below node); values below PP <0.5 and ML <50 are not shown. High support values (PP ≥ 0.95 and ML ≥ 70) are marked in bold.

FIGURE 2. Confirmed records of Boaedon species in north-eastern and eastern Africa. Red dots: Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov.; Red star: Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov. type locality; green dots: Boaedon subniger sp. nov.; green star: Boaedon subniger sp. nov. type locality; red square: Boaedon montanus; red triangle: Boaedon paralineatus; blue dots, Boaedon capensis s.l.: orange dots Boaedon sp. black form; yellow dot: B. arabicus.

FIGURE 3: Holotype of Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov. (ZMH R08485) from nearby Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Left: head in dorsal, ventral and lateral view, right side drawings of the head.

FIGURE 4: Live photo of Boaedon broadleyi sp. nov. from nearby Lake Oromia region, Ethiopia. Photo by Petr Nečas.