Psammophis sibilans, (Linnaeus, 1758)

Trape, Jean-François, Crochet, Pierre-André, Broadley, Donald G., Sourouille, Patricia, Mané, Youssouph, Burger, Marius, Böhme, Wolfgang, Saleh, Mostafa, Karan, Anna, Lanza, Benedetto & Mediannikov, Oleg, 2019, On the Psammophis sibilans group (Serpentes, Lamprophiidae, Psammophiinae) north of 12 ° S, with the description of a new species from West Africa, Bonn zoological Bulletin 68 (1), pp. 61-91 : 65-66

PSAMMOPHIS SIBILANS (Linnaeus, 1758)

Egyptian Hissing Sand Snake, Psammophis rayé, Schmuck-Sandrennnatter

Coluber sibilans Linnaeus, 1758 , Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 222. Type locality: “Asia” & 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1: 383.

“Le Chapelet” Lacépède, 1789, Hist. Nat. Serpens 2: 246, pl. xii, fig. 1.

Coluber Gemmatus Shaw, 1802 , Gen. Zool., 3: 539. No locality.

Coluber moniliger Daudin, 1803 , Hist. Nat. Rept. 7: 69. No locality.

Natrix sibilans Merrem, 1820 : Vers. Syst. Amphib.: 114.

Coluber auritus Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, 1827 , Descr. Egypte, 1, Hist. Nat. Rept.: 147, 151, pl. viii, fig. 4. Type locality: Egypt .

Psammophis sibilans Boie, 1827 , in Oken, Isis, 20, col. 547; Günther, 1858: 136 (part); Jan & Sordelli, 1870: Livr. 34, Pl. iii, fig. 3 (Cairo); Boulenger, 1896: 161 (part); Anderson, 1898: 303, fig. 12, Pl. xliii; Bouleng- er, 1915c: 653 (part); Flower, 1933: 824; Corkill, 1935: 20 (part); Parker, 1949: 70 (part); Largen & Rasmussen, 1993: 366 (part); Brandstätter, 1995: 173 (part), Pl. 14; Schleich et al., 1996: 517; Largen, 1997: 91 (part); Baha el Din, 2006: 266; Largen & Spawls, 2010: 564 (part); Geniez, 2015: 248.

Coluber lacrymans Reuss, 1834 , Mus . Senckenberg 1: 139. Type locality: Tor District , Arabia (= Tor, Sinai Peninsula, Egypt).

Psammophis moniliger Peters, 1862: 274 ( Egypt).

Psammophis sibilans sibilans Loveridge, 1940: 30 (part); Marx, 1956: 8; 1968: 198; Lanza, 1972: 178; 1983: 227 (part); 1990: 440 (part); Saleh, 1997: 156, Pl. 92.

Description. (325 specimens from Egypt and two specimens from Ethiopia examined) Nostril pierced between 2 nasals; preocular 1 (very rarely 2), in short contact with or separated from frontal; postoculars 2 (very rarely 3); temporals basically 2+2+3, but with frequent fusions; supralabials 8 (but often 9 in Upper Egypt), the 4 th & 5 th (or the 5 th & 6 th) entering orbit; infralabials usually 10 or 11 (rarely 9 or 12), the first 5 in contact with anterior sublin- guals; dorsal scales in 17-17-13 rows; ventrals 154–178; cloacal divided; subcaudals 98–119 (lowest count 91 fide Anderson 1898, but tip of the tail probably mutilated). Brandstätter (1995, fig. 68–70) has published SEM mi- crographs of a dorsal scale of an Egyptian specimen.

Dorsum brown, top of head often with a pale median stripe on the snout which either terminates at the frontal or continue up to two-thirds its length ( Fig. 9 ), back of head often with pale transverse markings; labials immaculate yellow or with a few dark spots; dorsum plain ( Fig. 10 ) or with a vertebral line with each scale yellow with black laterally or paler at base and pale dorsolateral stripes on scale rows 4 and 5 ( Fig. 11 ); lower half of outer scale row and ventrals yellow; sometimes a pair of faint or broken black ventral hairlines.

Size. Largest specimen: 1,445 mm ( Flower 1933).

Remarks. Here we follow the usage established by Loveridge (1953) in treating “ Egypt ” as the type locality of P. sibilans . However, to fulfil the requirements of the code of Zoological Nomenclature, a proper restriction of type locality would require designation of a lectotype and, if the origin of the lectotype cannot be traced and/or its identity cannot be ascertained, application to the commission to set aside the type and designate a neotype in accordance with Article 75.5 of the Code. Further studies are needed to establish the distribution of P. sibilans in north-eastern Africa. Sequences from Ethiopia and Somalia published by Kelly et al. (2008) and one additional sequence from our specimens suggest that at least three cryptic species of the Psammophis sibilans group occur in the Horn of Africa.

Habitat. Cultivated and other vegetated areas along the Nile in Egypt and Sudan, woodland savanna in Ethiopia.

Distribution. Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. Possibly extending in neighbouring areas of Eritrea and South Sudan. Figure 12 shows the geographic distribution of the P. sibilans specimens that we sequenced, and of other sequenced specimens of closely related species.

Figures

Fig. 9. Psammophis sibilans. Dorsal view of the head of BM 1897.10.28.603 from Abassiyeh near Cairo, Egypt (A), MNHN 2001.0601 from Aïn Ghossair near Ismailia, Egypt (B), and AUZC.R02262 from Qalubiya near Cairo, Egypt (C). Note the black edged yellow median line starting from the snout which is not forking then bordering the frontal as observed in Psammophis afroccidentalis sp. nov. and P. rukwae.

Fig. 10. Psammophis sibilans. Plain phase. Specimen from Faiyum (Egypt).

Fig. 11. Psammophis sibilans. Lineated phase. Specimen from Aïn Ghossair near Ismailia, Egypt (MNHN 2001.0601).

Fig. 12. Geographic distribution of the sequenced specimens of P. sibilans and other species frequently confounded with P. sibilans: P. phillipsi, P. mossambicus, P. rukwae, P. sudanensis, and P. afroccidentalis sp. nov. One symbol may correspond to several specimens from neighbouring localities. Location of type locality is approximate for P. sibilans (“Egypt”), P. phillipsi (“Liberia”) and P. mossambicus (“insel Mossambique”).