f^S Had tKtt^or/ SI FIELDIANA • ZOOLOGY r /o O Published by ^1 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 51 November 30, 1968 No. 10 A New Species of Crotaphopeltis (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Barotseland, Zambia Donald G. Broadley Umtali Museum, Rhodesia In 1962 Richard Japp presented a collection of Barotseland rep-tiles and amphibians to Field Museum of Natural History. This includes five snakes from Kalabo which belong to the genus Crota-phopeltis. Four specimens (FMNH 133041, 134253-5) are the com-mon and widespread species C. hotamboeia (Lauren ti), but the fifth represents an undescribed form. As this snake may be endemic to the Barotse floodplain, it is named: Crotaphopeltis barotseensis, new species. Figures 1 and 2. Holotype. — Field Museum of Natural History No. 134249, an adult female collected at Kalabo, Barotseland, Zambia, 24 March 1962 by Mr. Richard G. Japp (field number 1216). Diagnosis. — A form of Crotaphopeltis differing from other species in the genus by having the upper postocular separated from the supraocular by a forward prolongation of the parietal, which enters the orbit. Dorsal scale rows 17-17-13: both hotamboeia and degeni normally have 17-19-15 rows, although the former may have 21 rows anteriorly (ruiziensis Laurent, 1963), while tornieri normally has 17-17-15 rows (Loveridge, 1933). In barotseensis and degeni the dorsal scales are smooth, glossy and iridescent, but in hotamboeia and tor-nieri the posterior dorsals are feebly keeled. The head of barotseensis is narrower than in the other forms, with a high rostral and no ex-pansion in the temporal region. Description. — Head distinct from neck; snout rounded; eye with a vertical pupil; body sub-cylindrical; tail 13.6 per cent of total length. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-59374 No. 1061 135
BioStor
