Content uploaded by William R Branch
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by William R Branch on Jun 06, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
Donald George Broadley: Bibliography, taxonomic discoveries and patronyms
Abstract and Figures
Donald G. Broadley was one of Africa’s most prolific recent authors. He produced over 410 articles, including numerous comprehensive and detailed taxonomic reviews of lizard and snake genera. A review of his scientific publications spanning over 50 years of herpetological research reveals three phases. The first (1958–1981) saw Don describe his first new reptile and the completion of numerous important generic revisions. The second phase (1982–1991) was a period of relative taxonomic quiescence, but saw the compilation of major faunal overviews, including two books, the monographic Amphibia Zambesiaca (with J.C. Poynton, 1985–1991), and a checklist of the reptiles of Tanzania (with Kim Howell, 1991). The third and final phase of Don’s career (1992–2015) saw him at the peak of both his collaborative and authoritative stage. His outlook embraced sub-Saharan Africa, although always with a bias towards eastern and southern Africa. Appendices include: a detailed bibliography of his herpetological publications; a chronological list of all the scientific taxa he described; and details of the numerous current patronyms named in his honour. He described 123 taxa, including 115 species/subspecies and 8 genera/subgenera. As of 2016 there are 16 patronyms (five amphibians, nine reptiles and two invertebrates) named in his honour.
Figures - uploaded by William R Branch
Author content
All figure content in this area was uploaded by William R Branch
Content may be subject to copyright.
... Years ago, on a trip to Southern Africa, I visited the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo with Patrick Lewis, one of the authors of the two amphisbaenian papers in this issue Meza et al., 2024), to examine their herpetology collection and meet with the legendary Don Broadley (1932Broadley ( -2016)-a herpetologist so renowned that there are nine species of reptiles named in his honor (Branch & Bates, 2018). After regaling us with tales of some of his harrowing encounters with all manner of scaly things and pointing out many impressive creatures in murky jars, he made his way over to one small container and fished out something rather unimposing for us to see. ...
... The animal he proudly held out for us was the only specimen of its species in any collection anywhere in the world-the type specimen of Zygaspis maraisi (Broadley & Measey, 2016), one of the 123(!) taxa that he named over his decades' long career (Branch & Bates, 2018). (He named the species after another outstanding herpetologist who had caught it, Johan Marais, who also kindly supplied the photograph of the live specimen on the cover of this issue.) ...
... Herp. Fr. (2019) de Donald G. Broadley (1932-2016, puis par celui de Bill Branch (1946-2018, deux herpétologistes spécialistes du sud du continent. Le présent ouvrage traite de l'herpétologie africaine à travers la vie et l'oeuvre de Broadley à qui je souhaite rendre hommage au travers de cette analyse. ...
Book review - Donald G. Broadley - South Africa herpetology
During the past ten years, the African Journal of Herpetology has published various papers regarding African Herpetology from all corners of the African continent. The journal is published twice per annum with an average of six articles per issue. Below is listed all publications, as well as taxonomic discoveries that appeared in the journal over the past decade.
William Roy Branch (1946–2018) was the most prolific Africa-based herpetologist of his era. His 659 herpetological contributions, spanning 47 years, include field and photographic guides, taxonomic revisions, phylogenies, ecological studies, annotated checklists, conservation assessments, type catalogues, notes on natural history, geographical distribution and snakebite, book reviews, editorials, obituaries, tributes and prefaces. Bill authored eight book titles, including his monumental Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa (1988, revised in 1998), The Dangerous Snakes of Africa with Steve Spawls (1995, revised in 2020) and Tortoises, Terrapins and Turtles of Africa (2008). He edited the Red Data Book–Reptiles and Amphibians (1988) and was a co-editor of its successor, the Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland (2014). In addition to a corpus of faunal and systematic works, the topics of his publications also include reptile husbandry, karyology, snake hemipenes, snake venom, reptile diets and reproduction. Appendices presented here include a detailed bibliography of his herpetological publications; a chronological list of all the reptile and amphibian taxa he described; and details of patronyms named in his honour. Bill described 68 new taxa comprising 51 species (37 lizards [18 geckos], 7 chelonians, 4 snakes, 3 frogs), 15 genera (14 lizards, 1 snake), one subfamily (Platysaurinae) and one family (Xenodactylidae). Additional species bearing his name are expected to be published within the next few years. He was the most productive South Africa-based author of reptile names (65) in the modern era. As of 2020, he had been honoured by seven patronyms (one lizard, three snakes and one frog species, and a lizard and snake genus).
English-born Donald George Broadley spent most of his adult life working as a herpetologist at two museums in Zimbabwe. His many taxonomic reviews and other publications made him one of the most respected experts on African reptiles and amphibians worldwide. Don passed away at home in Bulawayo on 10 March 2016. This obituary summarises, emphasises and honours his many achievements as a herpetologist, and notes the many honours bestowed on him by the scientific community. His numerous collecting expeditions to south-central and eastern Africa resulted in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe (Bulawayo) having the second largest collection (more than 52 000 specimens) of reptiles and amphibians in Africa. Included is a brief history of his involvement with the Herpetological Association of Africa, of which he was a founder member. The authors mention a few personal recollections of their associations and collaborations with him since the 1970s.
We use a combination of phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA sequences and multivariate morphometrics to investigate the phylogeography and systematics of the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) species complex. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial haplotypes reveals a highly distinct clade of haplotypes from the Sudano–Sahelian savanna belt of West Africa, and that the haplotypes of Naja haje arabica form the sister group of North and East African N. h. haje. Multivariate morphometrics confirm the distinctness of the Arabian populations, which are consequently recognised as a full species, Naja arabica Scortecci. The Sudano-Sahelian populations are also found to represent a morphologically distinct taxon, and thus a separate species, which we describe as Naja senegalensis sp. nov. The new species differs from all other members of the N. haje complex by a combination of colour pattern and scalation characteristics (especially higher numbers of scale rows around the neck), and the possession of a unique clade of mtDNA haplotypes. The distribution of the new species includes savanna areas of West Africa, from Senegal to western Niger and Nigeria.
The genus Letheobia Cope 1869 is revived for the “worm-like blind-snakes” which were assigned to the genus Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger 1843 by Roux-Estève in 1974 (her Groups IV to VII). Letheobia pallida is restricted to Zanzibar, and the specimens from Pemba Island, the East African coast, southern Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia are described as four new species. Three species included by Roux-Estève (1974) in the polyphyletic genus Typhlops Oppel, T. uluguruensis Barbour & Loveridge (Group II), T. obtusus Peters and T. decorosus Buchholz & Peters (Group V) are considered basal forms in the genus Letheobia and a related species, L. jubana sp. nov., is described from southern Somalia.
The genus Dasypeltis Wagler, 1830 in north-eastern Africa (from latitude 8ºS to the Mediterranean Sea, east of 29°E) and south-western Arabia (west of longitude 45°E) is reviewed. Ten species are recognised in this region on the basis of morphological characters, including colour pattern. Dasypeltis fasciata A. Smith, 1849 inhabits lowland forest in western and southern Uganda, while Dasypeltis medici (Bianconi, 1859) occurs in coastal forest/savannah mosaic in southern Somalia, Kenya and northern Tanzania. We show that Dasypeltis medici lamuensis Gans, 1957 is a junior synonym of D. medici. Dasypeltis atra Sternfeld, 1912—in a variety of colour phases/patterns—is widespread in the region, occurring in montane forest, moorland, forest/savannah mosaic, and savannah along the border between Tanzania and Kenya. Dasypeltis scabra (Linnaeus, 1758) is widely distributed in East African savannahs, except in parts of South Sudan, Uganda, western Kenya and Rwanda where Dasypeltis confusa Trape & Mané, 2006 infiltrates from the west, and in northern Somalia and Djibouti at 640 to 1370 m where it is replaced by Dasypeltis taylori Bates & Broadley sp. nov. Dasypeltis bazi Saleh & Sarhan, 2016 occurs as an isolated population in the Fayoum Depression west of Cairo, Egypt, with a possible isolate at Erkowit in the Red Sea Hills of north-eastern Sudan. We designate a lectotype for Dasypeltis abyssina (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854)—previously known only from the type description—and demonstrate that it is a distinct and valid species restricted to open savannah in the highlands (1800–2450
m) of north-western Ethiopia and central Eritrea; the paralectotype from Sudan is referable to D. scabra. Dasypeltis crucifera Bates sp. nov. is known only from two localities at lower elevations (600–1417 m) in northern Eritrea. Dasypeltis arabica Broadley & Bates sp. nov. inhabits the highlands of south-western Arabia (Saudi Arabia and Yemen) at elevations of 1300–2300 m. Multivariate analyses of scale characters and numbers of pattern cycles provides support for the above taxonomy. We provide a map detailing the ranges of the various species. The Horn of Africa, with at least six species (and another in Arabia), appears to be a centre of diversity for the genus Dasypeltis.
We describe a new species of Zygaspis based on a single specimen collected in north-eastern Mozambique and deposited in the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo. The new species is characterised by its extensively black pigmentation, 191 body annuli, discrete preoculars, four parietals, two postoculars, three supralabials, and two post-supralabials. Phylogenetic analysis of mtDNA suggests that it is a sister taxon to the widespread Zygaspis quadrifrons.
ZooBank.—urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9651A65E-949E-4C95-A363-81C558A222AC
An anomalous subfossil tortoise is described from a Holocene cave deposit at Pomongwe in the Matobo Hills, southwest Zimbabwe (Carbon 14 date 9400 ±100 yrs BP). This specimen appears to be unique in its truncated and depressed anterior carapace with loss of the normal second peripheral, but agrees with Kinixys Bell and Impregnochelys Meylan & Auffenberg in having numerous auxiliary scales. It may lack the carapacial hinge of Kinixys. The epiplastron appears most similar to that of a female Chersina angulata Gray.