Philothamnus angolensis

Philothamnus cf. angolensis Bocage, 1882

Specimen.

Angola: Caconda: BMNH 1882.6.9.5 (not examined) .

Comments.

Bocage and Günther exchanged letters in 1882 (NHMA /DF/ZOO/200/21/39, 41, 42), when Bocage was preparing his revision of the genus Philothamnus (Bocage 1882 a) . In this context, Bocage sent a shipment of Philothamnus specimens to the British Museum, including a specimen from Caconda under the name Philothamnus irregularis (NHMA /DF/ZOO/200/21/42). Although Bocage (1882 a) did not cite specimens from Caconda in his generic revision, he later mentioned material collected by Anchieta at this locality (Bocage 1895 a). The specimen presented to the British Museum was later reported by Boulenger (1894 b) as Chlorophis irregularis, although subsequent works suggest that historical records of Philothamnus irregularis from Angola are referrable to either P. angolensis or P. hoplogaster (Hughes 1985; Marques et al. 2018). The specimen presented by Bocage could not be located during our visits, thus precluding confirmation of its identity.