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Philothamnus ruandae
Loveridge, 1951!
Rwandan Green Snake
REPRODUCTION
O. S. G. PAUWELS & J. BRECKO
NATURAL HISTORY
NOTES
Philothamnus ruandae Loveridge, 1951 is an
Albertine Rift endemic colubrid found in
Burundi, eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo, Rwanda and southwestern Uganda,
from 700 to 2900 m a.s.l. (Roelke and Smith
2010; Wallach et al. 2014). Although some
aspects of its natural history are relatively well
known about its reproduction, Spawls et al.
(2002, 2018) reported “Lays eggs, no clutch
details known”.!
NUMBER 77 | SEPT 2021
To contribute towards filling this knowledge
gap on the biology of this species, we
digitally examined five adult females in the
collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of
Natural Sciences and of the Royal Museum
for Central Africa, including the holotype
and three paratypes (Loveridge 1951, 1958;
Table 1).
Accession number
Locality
Snout-vent
length (mm)
Clutch size
Average egg
dimensions (length x
breadth, in mm)*
RBINS 2053
(holotype; formerly
RBINS 4268)
Mulungu (ca. 1800 m a.s.l.),
South-Kivu, DRC
649
9
28.5 x 11.9
RBINS 2054
(paratype; formerly
RBINS 2614)
Kamatembe (2100 m a.s.l.),
Kivu, DRC
552
4
29.5 x 11.1
RBINS 2055
(paratype; formerly
RBINS 4253)
M’Pala (ca. 760 m a.s.l.), Rég.
Kanzenze, Lualaba, DRC
680
12
29.1 x 12.7
RBINS 2056
(paratype; formerly
RBINS 4254)
Mulungu (ca. 1800 m a.s.l.),
Sud-Kivu, DRC
710
9
30.2 x 13.2
RMCA 76-58-R-1
Bugarama (ca. 2200 m a.s.l.),
Burundi
603
8
31.4 x 12.8
Table 1. Data for five gravid adult female Philothamnus ruandae. *Dimensions of the eggs are only based on intact eggs.
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NATURAL HISTORY
NOTES
Figure 1. μCT tomogram of the holotype of Philothamnus
ruandae (RBINS 2053) showing nine eggs in situ. Scale bar
represents 1 cm.
Figure 2. μCT tomogram of another adult female
Philothamnus ruandae (RMCA 76-58-R-1), showing eight
eggs in situ. Scale bar represents 1 cm.
NUMBER 77 | SEPT 2021
We used high resolution x-ray computed
tomography (RX EasyTom 150, 110 kV, 30 W,
30.8–33.4 μm voxel size), with segmentation
and rendering done using Dragonfly software
version 4.0 for Windows (Object Research
Systems Inc., Montreal, Canada, 2019;
software available at http://
www.theobjects.com/dragonfly). Each
specimen examined contained eggs (Figs. 1–
2 and Table 1), which we measured in
Dragonfly ORS using the measuring tool.!
The smallest gravid female has a snout-vent
length of 552 mm, and clutch size varies
from 4–12. RMCA 76-58-R-1 was collected
on 7 August 1976.!
Thus, it seems that the eggs would have
been laid during the short rainy season.
RBINS 2054 was collected between the 11th
and the 21st April 1934, and RBINS 2056
was collected in October 1947, thus during
the long and the short wet seasons,
respectively. There is no information on the
precise collecting date for RBINS 2053 or
RBINS 2055. The wide elevational gradient
occupied by the species possibly plays a
role in its reproductive phenology.
1cm 1cm
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NATURAL HISTORY NOTES
Wallach V, Williams KL, Boundy J. 2014.
Snakes of the world: a catalogue of living
and extinct species. London: Taylor and
Francis, CRC Press.!
SUBMITTED BY:
OLIVIER S. G. PAUWELS!
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences,
Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
E-mail: opauwels@naturalsciences.be!
JONATHAN BRECKO!
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences,
Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussels, Belgium;
Royal Museum for Central Africa,
Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren,
Belgium.
E-mail: jbrecko@naturalsciences.be!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Digitisation was performed at the Scientific
Heritage Service of the Royal Belgian Institute
of Natural Sciences (RBINS), within the
framework of DIGIT04, a program funded by
the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO) to
digitize all type specimens housed at the
Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA,
Tervuren), and the RBINS. We are grateful to
Garin Cael (RMCA) for his technical support,
to Darren Pietersen (University of Pretoria)
and an anonymous reviewer for their
comments, and to Jessica da Silva (HAA) for
editorial support.!
REFERENCES
Loveridge A. 1951. Synopsis of the African
Green Snakes (Philothamnus and Chlorophis),
with the description of a new form. Bull. Inst.
Roy. Sc. Nat. Belgique 27(37):1–12.!
Loveridge A. 1958. Revision of five African
snake genera. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 119:1–
198.!
Roelke CE, Smith EN. 2010. Herpetofauna,
Parc National des Volcans, North Province,
Republic of Rwanda. Check List 6(4):525–
531.!
Spawls S, Howell K, Drewes R, Ashe J. 2002.
A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa.
London: Academic Press.!
Spawls S, Howell K, Hinkel H, Menegon M.
2018. Field guide to East African reptiles. 2nd
edition. London: Bloomsbury.
NUMBER 77 | SEPT 2021
