Hormonotus modestus
Creators: name: Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude
name: Trape, Jean François
name: David, Patrick
name: Ohler, Annemarie
name: Dubois, Alain
name: Glitho, Isabelle Adolé
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Reptilia
Squamata
Lamprophiidae
Hormonotus
Hormonotus modestus

description: Hormonotus modestus (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)   
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 2 specimens (ZMB 11241, “ Togo ” without precise locality; MNHN 2006.2197, Sodo Zion).  
MORPHOLOGY. — TL 502 mm and 665 mm; 15 MSR smooth and oblique, vertebral row enlarged; 228-245 Ven; 86 Sc, paired; anal single; 9 supralabials; 9 infralabials; 1 preocular; 3 postoculars; temporal scale formula 1 + 2.  
DISTRIBUTION. — This burrowing species occurs in the forested area of Togo. Previously, Matschie (1893), Sternfeld (1909: 13) and Chippaux (2006) had already recorded its occurrence in the country. Specimens mentioned by Sternfeld (1908b, 1909: 13) were collected at Bismarkburg, now Adele.  
 Lamprophis fuliginosus (Boie, 1827) (Fig. 5)   
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 57 specimens (MRAC 29476, MRAC 29478, GHS-W 0528, Payo; MRAC 29503, Niamtougou; MRAC 29553, Tomegbe; MRAC 29560, MRAC 29573, T 130, T 134, Fazao; MRAC 29582, MRAC 29586, Kolokope; MRAC 29609, MRAC 29615-16, MRAC 29619, Togoville; MRAC 29596, MRAC 29600, Tetetou; MRAC 29706, Ezime; MRAC 73014.0028, Agou; GHS-W 0032, GHS-Togo 73, T 225, Agave; GHS-W 1286, T 147, T 152, T 154, Diguingue; GHS-Togo 13, Sodo; MRAC A7036.0002, MRAC A7036.0011 - 0012, GHS-W 0024, GHS-W 1018-19, GHS-W 1033, GHS-W 1063, GHS-W 1066, GHS-W 1072-3, GHS-W 1076, GHS-W 1097-8, GHS-W 1203, GHS-W 1206-7, GHS-W 1412, GHS-W 1414, GHS-W 1424-5, GHS-W 1430, GHS-W 1433, GHS-W 1437, GHS-Togo 27, and GHS-Togo 41, Sodo Zion; GHS-W 1235, GHS-W 1288, Yo [Agome Yo], T 214, Huilehui; T 233, Bafilo).  
MORPHOLOGY. — TL from 310 to 935 mm; 28-31 MSR, smooth; 202-248 Ven, smooth; 44-68 Sc; anal single; 8-9 supralabials; 8-10 infralabials; 1 preocular; 2 postoculars; temporal scale formula 1 + 2 + 3.  
 DISTRIBUTION. — This species is very common and present in all ecological regions of the country. It occurs in all ecosystems: savannahs, forest, in urbanized areas, and so on. Additional specimens were collected in Aledjo, Fazao and Huilehui. The species had been recorded from Togo by Matschie (1893), Sternfeld (1908b, 1909: 11), from Missahohe, Kete (Kete-Kratchi currently in Ghana), Hulselmans & Verheyen (1970), Hulselmans et al. (1970), and Roman (1984). Publications of Trape & Mané (2004, 2006b) and Chippaux (2006) mentioned the presence of this species throughout Western and Central Africa. However, Chirio & Ineich (2006) stated that this nominal taxon is a complex of two species which is in need of a taxonomical revision.   
CONSERVATION STATUS. — According to reports of the CITES Division of the DFC Togo, 30 specimens were exported from Togo in 2005.  
REMARKS  
 The genus is currently under revision by the senior author of this paper; the results will be presented elsewhere. Nevertheless, in Togo and West Africa, the characters of both Lamprophis fuliginosus and Lamprophis lineatus are quite constant. Both species can be easily separated by the condition of the contact between the upper part of the preocular and the frontal. In all (57) examined specimens of L. fuliginosus from throughout West Africa, the preocular is in broad contact with the frontal, whereas these scales are separated in all (12) examined specimens of L. lineatus. On the basis of new characters, it appears that there are more than one species under the name L. lineatus, especially in Central Africa.
description: Published as part of Segniagbeto, Gabriel Hoinsoude, Trape, Jean François, David, Patrick, Ohler, Annemarie, Dubois, Alain & Glitho, Isabelle Adolé, 2011, The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems, pp. 325-360 in Zoosystema 33 (3) on pages 341-342, DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4, http://zenodo.org/record/4547017