Sauria : Cordylidae)

194 ADRIAN HAILEY AND P. M. C. DAVIES Madsen. T. ( 1984). Movements, home range size and habitat Schaefer, W. H. ( 1934). Diagnosis of sex in snakes. Copeia. use of radio-tracked grass snakes (Natrix natrix) in 1934, 181. southern Sweden. Copeia. 1984, 707-713. Seigel, R. A. and Fitch, H. S. ( 1985). Annual variation in Odum, E. ( 1959). Fundamentals of ecology. Philadelphia: reproduct ion in snakes in a nuctuat ing environment. W. B. Saunders. .!oumal of Animal Ecolog)'. 54, 497-505. Parker, \V . S. ( 1976). Population estimates, age structure, and Stubbs, D. and Swingland, I. R. ( 1985). The ecology of a denning habits of whipsnakes, Masticophis t. taeniarus. Mediterranean tortoise (Testudo hermanni): a declining in a northern Utah Atriplex-Sarcobatu.1· community. population. Canadian .Journal of Zoolog)'. 63, 169- 1 80. Herpetologica, 32, 53-57. Swingland, I. R. ( 1977). Reproductive effort and life history Pe;ibody, F. E. ( 1958). A Kansas drouth recorded in growth st rategy of the Aldabran giant tortoise. Na111re. London, zones of a bullsnake. Copeia. 1958, 91-94. 269, 402-404. Petter-Rousseaux. A. ( 1953). Recherches sur la croissance Tinkle, D. W. ( 1957). Ecology, maturation and reproduct ion et le cycle d'activite testiculaire de Natrix 11a1rix helvetica of Th amnophis sauri111s proximus. Ecolog r, 38, 69-77. (Lacepede). Terre Vie, IOO, 175-223. Turner, F. B. ( 1977). The dynamics of populations of Prestt, I. (1971 ). An ecological study of the viper //ipera squamates, crocodilians and rhynchocephalians. In hems in southern Britain. Journal of Zoologr. London. Biology of the reptilia, 7, 157-264. Gans, C. and Tinkle, 164, 373-4 18 D. W. (Eds . ). London and New York: Academic Press. Saint Girons. H. ( 1965). Les criteres d'age chez les reptiles Viitanen, P. (1967). Hibernation and seasonal movements et leurs applications a l'etude de la structure des of the viper, Vipera berus berus (L.), in southern Finland. populations sauvages. Terre Vie, 112, 342-358. Annals ofZoologJ'. Finland, 4, 472-546. HERPETOLOGICAL JOURNAL, Vol. I, pp. 194-198 (1987) A REVIEW OF GEOGRAPH ICAL VARIATI ON IN GERRHOSA URUS MAJOR DUMERIL (SAURIA : CORDYLIDAE) DONALD G. BROADLEY Nm11r11/ /li.1- 101T M11sP11111 u( Zi111bah11·P, P. 0. Box 240. B11/1111'a.1·0. Zi111bah11·P. (A capwl 31. I 0.R6) ABSTRACT Examination of most oft he available material of Gcrrhosaurus major indicates that only two geographical ra ces should be recognised, the typical fo rm (with grandis Boulenger as a synonym) in easternAf rica and G. m. bo11egoi Del Prato (with zechi Tornier as a synonym) ranging from northern Somalia west to Ghana. Jn the last revision ofthe genus, Loveridge (1942) recognised four races, but did not realise that the name bo11egoi was applicable to the dark form which he called zechi. The range of variation in the typical fo rm includes all the material that Loveridge assign ed to bollegoi and grandis. INTRODUCTION 8. Above head, body and tail almost black, each scale with a small buff spot or streak arranged to fo rm When the genus Gerrhosaurus was last reviewed by interrupted lines on back and sides; belly streaked Loveridge (1942) most of the available material of with dusky; range Belgian Congo and Togo G. major was from East Africa, and he assigned it to • • • • • • • • • • . • • . • • • • • • • • • . • . • • • • • • . 111. zechi three races based on colour pattern, using the fo llowing key: Above, head and body buff, each scale (except those '7. Head above, buff, each scale spotted with black .. 8 fo rming an ill-defined, buff, dorsolateral line) heavily streaked with black or dark brown in Head above, uniform buff or fu lvous brown ... 9 regular lines on back and sides with a tendency to DONALD G. BROA DLEY 195 coalesce posteriorly and on tail where the buff MATERIALS AND METHODS survives only as spots; belly streaked with dusky; range: Central Tanganyika north through Kenya The Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe has a to Ethiopia and Eritrea ..... ... m. bo11egoi series of 60 specimens of G. m. major from Zimbabwe, Mo9ambique and Zambia. During a three month tour 9. Above, head only buff through back anteriorly of museums in the United States in 1985, I took the largely so, while posteriorly, as also on sides and opportunity to examine additional material of tail, many scales are streaked with black or dark G. major and I was also able to check the specimens in brown among which large buff blotches or spots the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) during a brief are prominent; belly usually streaked with dusky; stopover on my way back to Zimbabwe. Subsequently range Zululand and Transvaal north to Moro I was supplied with data for an additional 115 goro, Tanganyika Territory . m. grandis specimens of G. major by several other museums in Europe, the United States and South Africa. Above, head and body uniform buff or fulvous As no geographical variation in morphological brown; belly uniform yellowish; range Northern characters has been detected in G. major, this study Rhodesia (?) and Mozambique north to Zanzibar was restricted to colour pattern. along eastern Tanganyika Territory and eastern The following acronyms were used to indicate the Kenya Colony . 111. major' institutions holding G. major material for each listed locality: AMNH =American Museum of Natural Later in 1942, H. W. Parker published his History, New York; BM =British Museum (Natural monograph on the lizards of British Somaliland and History), London; CAS =California Academy of independently reviewed the geographical races of Sciences, San Francisco; CM =Carnegie Museum, Gerrhosaurus major. He regarded zechi as a synonym Pittsburgh; FMNH =Field Museum of Natural of bo11egoi and, after examining the 'rather scanty' History, Chicago; JPT = J.P. Tello Collection, Maputo, material in the British Museum, recognised three races Mo9ambique; MCZ =Museum of Comparative Zoo as follows: logy, Harvard; MHNP =Museum National d'Histoire 'I. Uniform brownish above, or with only irregular Naturelle, Paris; MZUF = Museo Zoologico de 'La dark markings; tail with alternating darker and lighter Specola', Florence; NMZB (+ UM) = Natural History annuli. This fo rm is confined to Kenya Colony, Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo; TM = Transvaal Zanzibar and northeasternTanga nyika Territory and Museum, Pretoria. is the typical fo rm. G. major major Dumeril. II. Black above, with longitudinal series of yellow spots between the dorsal scales; a more or less distinct RESULTS yellow dorsolateral stripe; nanks brown with longi tudinal light necks fo rming regular series. Head black Loveridge( 1942, 1953) regarded the uniformbu ff or above with small yellow spots. This is a nort hern tawny typical form (Fig. 1, above) as an 'East African Sudanese subspecies, ranging from the Gold Coast to coastal form' replaced by the black streaked grandis Eritrea and Somaliland. It enters the savannahs of the inland, but even one of the Zanzibar syntypes of major Congo around Garamba (Schmidt, 1919), Uganda (MHNP 6539) has black infuscationsin the mid-dorsal (Kyagwe and Kaiso) and probably northeastern Kenya region, increasing posteriorly. r have examined 27 of (? USNM 422 J 6 recorded by Loveridge, I 929, p.66). In the Tanzanian specimens from Mangasini (= Kwa British Somaliland it appears to be confined to the Mtoro) and Dodoma which Loveridge identified mountains fromthe Boroma district as far east as the initially (J 933) as zechi and subsequently (l942) as Golis Range: G. major bo ltegoi del Prato. bollegoi, because of the black markings on head and body. These vary in extent from 5 to 50 per cent on the IIl. Similar in colour posteriorly to the preceding, head, from I 0 to 50 per cent on the body anteriorly and but anteriorly the light markings are more extensive, from 50 to 90 per cent posteriorly. obliterating the darker colour and the whole of the The lizards from Zimbabwe show almost the full upper surface of the head is pale brown, uniform or range of colour patterns found in Tanzania. The most with small black or chocolate-brown spots. This race extensive dark markings are found in juveniles. occurs in Zululand, Transvaal, Mozambique and UM 17904 from Tanganda Bridge, with a snout-vent Tanganyika Territory and should apparently be length of 78mm, has symmetrical black head known as G. major grandis Bou!'. markings, most extensive on the frontal,fr ontoparietals Loveridge ( 1957) persevered with his own arrange and parietals. UM 18705, a 1 OOmm SVL juvenile from ment, although admitting that there was a wide zone of Mahenya, and UM 27553, a 128mm SVL subadult overlap between grandis and typical major. fr om Mutare, also show these markings in a reduced I have long regarded grandis as a synonym of the form. Most adult specimens have no dark head typical fo rm (Broadley, 197 l ), but it was not until I markings, but the body is more or less streaked with began work on a check list of the reptiles of Tanzania black, increasing posteriorly, there is much variation that the divergent views of Loveridge and Parker with within a population. The only specimens with no dark regard lo the status of G. m. bot1egoi attracted my markings on the body are two from Kapami in attention. It was obviously desirable to establish the Hwange District (the most westerly locality), one from correct application of this name and to update Triangle and one from Mahenya, where most adults Schmidt's 1919 distribution map. are heavily streaked with black. Most Mo9ambique 196 VARIATION IN GERRHOSA UR US MAJOR and usually a continuous yellow dorsolateral stripe; the flanks and ventrum are usually light brown, sometimes with yellow streaks (Fig. l, below). Dunger (1967) reports that males from Jos, Nigeria, have a distinctive slate-blue chin and throat. GERRHOSA UR US MA JOR BOTTEGOJ Del Prato Gerrhosaurus Bottegoi Del Prato, 1895, A Iii.

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