A phylogeny of Central African <i>Boaedon</i> (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae), with the description of a new cryptic species from the Albertine Rift

<div><p></p><p>The Central African house snake <i>Boaedon olivaceus</i> has a large distribution from the forests of West Africa to Mabira Forest in Uganda. We sequenced two mitochondrial (cyt <i>b</i> and ND4) and two nuclear (c-mos and RAG1) genes from several populations of <i>B. olivaceus</i> in Central Africa and recovered two highly divergent lineages (Congo Basin and Albertine Rift) attributable to this species. Dating analyses with BEAST suggest the two lineages last shared a common ancestor during the mid-Miocene approximately 12 million years ago, and data from RAG1 showed consistent differences in two amino acids for topotypic Congo Basin <i>B. olivaceus</i> compared to the Albertine Rift lineage and all other examined species of <i>Boaedon</i>. Based on these striking molecular differences and significant differences in ventral scale counts and the number of supralabials contacting the eye, we describe the Albertine Rift lineage as a new species. The recognition of this new species bolsters the importance of the Albertine Rift as an important region for endemism and conservation in continental Africa. Based on the results of our phylogenetic analyses, the poorly known taxon <i>Lycodonomorphus subtaeniatus upembae</i> is elevated to full species status and transferred to the genus <i>Boaedon</i>. <a href="http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D0C0E5B5-DBE9-4D21-B5FE-86221DDF60BA" target="_blank">http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:D0C0E5B5-DBE9-4D21-B5FE-86221DDF60BA</a></p></div

bii4africa dataset

The bii4africa dataset is presented in a multi-spreadsheet .xlsx file. The raw data spreadsheet (‘Scores_Raw’) includes 31,313 individual expert estimates of the impact of a sub-Saharan African land use on a species response group of terrestrial vertebrates or vascular plants. Estimates are reported as intactness scores - the remaining proportion of an ‘intact’ reference (pre-industrial or contemporary wilderness area) population of a species response group in a land use, on a scale from 0 (no individuals remain) through 0.5 (half the individuals remain), to 1 (same as the reference population) and, in limited cases, to 2 (two or more times the reference population). For species that thrive in human-modified landscapes, scores could be greater than 1 but not exceeding 2 to avoid extremely large scores biasing aggregation exercises. Expert comments are included alongside respective estimates