No photo available at
this time
This species was recently resurrected
from synonymy with Atheris
squamigera (Lawson, Noonan, &
Ustach, 2001).
The species name refers
to the head scalation - where the fourth
or fifth supralabial scale is in contact
with the orbit. In A.
squamigera the orbit is separated
by oculars (males) or oculars and a variable
number of interoculabials (females).
none - The name "Southwest
Cameroon Bush Viper" is the creation
of this author; the species does not have
an English name.
Lawson, Noonan, & Ustach
(2001) resurrected this species from synonymy
with Atheris
squamigera (Hallowell) based onspecimens
collected from southwestern Cameroon and
subsuquent DNA and character analysis.
Known only from the Southwest
Province of Cameroon west of the Cameroon
Highlands. It may also be found in extreme
eastern Nigeria.
The head and body are greenish olive or
yellowish olive-green above and the top
of the head is marked with an incomplete
black chevron or several black spots.
The interstitial skin is black, olive-green,
or citrine beneath the crossbands and
black interstitial skin is clearly visible
around the margins of the ventral scales.
The body has 30 or more faint olive-yellow
crossbands, which become even less disctinct
posteriorly and on the tail, and these
crossbands are often bordered anteriorly
by a darker band. The ventral surfaces
are a uniform dull lime green that is
sparsely smudged with black and are slightly
darker towards the tail. The eye is yellowish-green
and the tongue is red with a black tip.
The forests of southwestern Cameroon.
The new specimens were collected as they
crossed roads at an elevation below 300
m along the western base of the Cameroon
Highlands. However, Lawson, Noonan, &
Ustach (2001) suggested that the species
may be more common at moderate elevations
in the Bakossi Mountains and Rumbi Hills.
