Lycodonomorphus

Lycodonomorphus
L. inornatus , the Olive House Snake
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Lamprophiidae
Subfamily:	Lamprophiinae
Genus:	Lycodonomorphus Fitzinger 1843 [1]
Species
Nine recognized species, see text.

Lycodonomorphus is a genus of snakes commonly referred to as African water snakes. They are small, nonvenomous snakes, with all members being endemic to Africa, especially Tanzania. ^[2]

Species

The following nine species are recognized as being valid. ^[3]

• Lycodonomorphus bicolor (Günther, 1893) — Tanganyika white-bellied water snake
• Lycodonomorphus inornatus (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) ^[4] — Olive house snake, Olive ground snake
• Lycodonomorphus laevissimus (Günther, 1862) — Dusky-bellied water snake
• Lycodonomorphus leleupi (Laurent, 1950) — Congo dark-bellied water snake, Mulanje water snake
• Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis Loveridge, 1953 — Mlanje white-bellied water snake
• Lycodonomorphus obscuriventris V. FitzSimons, 1963 — Floodplain water snake
• Lycodonomorphus rufulus (Lichtenstein, 1823) — Common brown water snake
• Lycodonomorphus subtaeniatus Laurent, 1954 — Eastern Congo white-bellied water snake, Lined water snake
• Lycodonomorphus whytii (Boulenger, 1897) ^[5] — Whyte's water snake

Nota bene : A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Lycodonomorphus.

Etymology

The specific name, whytii, is in honor of British naturalist Alexander Whyte (1834–1908), who worked in Nyasaland (now Malawi) from 1891 to 1897. ^[6]

References

1. EOL.org (Retrieved Jul. 5, 2025)
2. GBIF.org (Retrieved Mar. 22, 2010)
3. "Lycodonomorphus ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
4. Kelly CMR, Branch WR, Broadley DG, Barker NP, Villet MH (2010). "Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae, Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera Lamprophis, Fitzinger 1843 and Mehelya Csiki 1903". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution58 (3): 415-426. doi : 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.010
5. JCVI.org (Retrieved Mar. 22, 2010)
6. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5. (Lycodonomorphus whytii, p. 285).

Further reading

• Auerbach RD (1987). The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Botswana: Mokwepa Consultants. 295 pp.
• Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Taylor and Francis, printers). 448 pp.
• Boycott RC (1992). An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Swaziland. The Conservation Trust of Swaziland, 1992; online at https://web.archive.org/web/20120914175238/http://www.sntc.org.sz/checklst/sdreptam.html.
• Broadley DG (1967). "A review of the genus Lycodonomorphus Fitzinger (Serpentes: Colubridae) in southeastern Africa, with a key to the genus". Arnoldia3 (16): 1–9.
• Broadley DG, Cotterill FPD (2004). "The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot' ". African Journal of Herpetology53 (1): 35–61.
• Fitzinger L (1843). Systema Reptilium, fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna: Braumüller et Seidel. 106 pp. (in Latin).
• Fitzinger L (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften nebst einer Verwandschafts-Tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. Zoologischen Museums zu Wien. Vienna: J. G. Heubner. 66 pp. (in German and Latin).
• Haagner GV (1992). "Life History Notes - Lycodonomorphus rufulus ". Journal of the Herpetological Association of Africa (41): 42.
• Lichtenstein MHC (1823). Verzeichniss der Doubletten des zoologischen Museums der Königl. Universität zu Berlin nebst Beschreibung vieler bisher unbekannter Arten von Säugethieren, Vögeln, Amphibien und Fischen. Berlin: Königl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss./ T. Trautwein. x + 118 pp. (in German).
• Marais J (2004). A Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa, Second Edition. Struik Publishers. 312 pp.
• Raw LRG (1973). "A review of the dusky-bellied water snake, Lycodonomorphus laevissimus (Günther), with descriptions of two new subspecies". Annals of the Natal Museum21 (3): 713–718. (Lycodonomorphus laevissimus fitzsimonsi nov. subsp., Lycodonomorphus laevissimus laevissimus nov. subsp., Lycodonomorphus laevissimus natalensis nov. subsp.)

External links

• Scale counts of Lycodonomorphus members.
• "Lycodonomorphus ". NCBI Taxonomy Browser.