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Citation: Midtgaard, Rune. RepFocus - A Survey of the Reptiles of the World. (www.repfocus.dk).
Latest update: June 24th, 2024.


Taxonomy of the family Viperidae
Bibliography of the genus Causus
Biodiversity of the family Viperidae








Genus
Causus

Night Adders

Krötenottern, Nachtottern

Tudsehugorme, Tudsevipere

1830 Causus Wagler (type species: Sepedon rhombeata Lichtenstein 1823)
1842 Distichurus Hallowell (type species: Distichurus maculatus Hallowell 1842)
1862 Heterophis Peters (type species: Heterophis resimus Peters 1862)
1882 Dinodipsas Peters (type species: Dinodipsas angulifera Peters 1882)
Contents: 9 species, of which 1 (11.1%) is endemic.
Endemism: 0% 100%
Distribution: SubSaharan Africa.
Reported from: Angola (incl. Cabinda), Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko, Rio Muni), Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province, Western Cape), South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania (incl. Zanzibar), Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Causus bilineatus

Two-striped Night Adder, Lined Night Adder, (Angolan Night Adder)

Streifen-Krötenotter

Tostribet Tudsehugorm

1905 Causus rhombeatus var. bilineatus Boulenger
Causus bilineatus Laurent 1955
1955 Causus lineatus Laurent (Golay & al. 1993)

Distribution: Angola, Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia.


Causus defilippii

Snouted Night Adder, (Defilippi's Night Adder)

Defilippis Krötenotter

Snude-tudsehugorm

1863 Heterodon de Filippii Jan [incorrect original spelling]
Causus defilippii Mocquard 1892
1863 Causus rostratus Günther (Boulenger 1896)

Distribution: Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province), Tanzania (incl. Zanzibar), Zambia, Zimbabwe.


Causus jacksonii

Eastern Green Night Adder

Östliche Grüne Krötenotter

Østlig Grøn Tudsehugorm

1888 Causus jacksonii Günther

Remarks: Previously regarded as a synonym of resimus (e.g., Golay & al. 1993). Revalidated as a separate species by Trape (2023).
Distribution: Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.





Causus lichtensteinii

Forest Night Adder, Olive-green Viper, (Lichtenstein's Night Adder)

Lichtensteins Krötenotter

Skovtudsehugorm

1859 Aspidelaps lichtensteinii Jan
Causus lichtensteinii Duméril 1859
1882 Dinodipsas angulifera Peters (Golay & al. 1993)

Remarks: Reports from Sierra Leone (e.g., David & Ineich 1999; Spawls & Branch 1995) need confirmation (Trape & Baldé 2014).
Distribution: Angola (incl. Cabinda), Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko, Rio Muni), Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia.


Causus maculatus

West African Night Adder, Spotted Night Adder, Maculate Night Adder, Maculate Adder, (Forest Night Adder)

Gefleckte Krötenotter

Vestafrikansk Tudsehugorm

1842 Distichurus maculatus Hallowell
Causus rhombeatus maculatus Laurent 1956
Causus maculatus Laurent 1964

Distribution: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Equatorial Guinea (Bioko, Rio Muni), Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda.


Causus nasalis

Southern Green Night Adder

Südliche Grüne Krötenotter

Sydlig Grøn Tudsehugorm

1893 Causus nasalis Stejneger
1895 Causus resimus var. angolensis Bocage

Remarks: Previously regarded as a synonym of resimus (e.g., Golay & al. 1993). Revalidated as a separate species by Trape (2023) and Marques, Parrinha, Lopes-Lima, Tiutenko, Bauer & Ceríaco (2024).
Distribution: Angola.





Causus rasmusseni

Zambian Night Adder

Sambianische Krötenotter

Zambiansk Tudsehugorm

2014 Causus rasmusseni Broadley

Remarks: The taxonomic status of the single Angolan record (Conradie, Bills & Branch 2016 [as "C. cf. rasmusseni"]; Branch 2018 [as "C. cf. rasmusseni"]) is unclear (Marques, Ceríaco, Blackburn & Bauer 2018).
Distribution: Angola, Zambia.


Causus resimus

Northern Green Night Adder, (Velvety-green Night Adder, Green Viper)

Nördliche Grüne Krötenotter

Nordlig Grøn Tudsehugorm

1862 Heterophis resimus Peters
Causus resimus Bocage 1886

Remarks: Previously included jacksonii and nasalis. Records from Angola and East Africa refer to these two species (Trape 2023).
Distribution: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan.


Causus rhombeatus

Rhombic Night Adder, Common Night Adder

Rhomben-Krötenotter

Almindelig Tudsehugorm

1823 Sepedon rhombeata Lichtenstein
Causus rhombeatus Wagler 1830
Naja rhombeatus Schlegel 1837
Aspidelaps rhombeatus Jan 1859 [1858]
1827 Coluber v-nigrum Boie (McDiarmid, Campbell & Touré 1999)
1912 Causus rhombeatus var. taeniata Sternfeld (Golay & al. 1993)

Remarks: Erroneously reported from Cameroon (e.g., Hughes 1983; Spawls & Branch 1995) (Chirio & LeBreton 2007). Older records of from Bioko (e.g., Mertens 1964) probably refer lichtensteini (Böhme 1975). Records from Mauritania (e.g.; Doucet 1963), Mali (e.g., Papenfuss 1969), and the Gambia (e.g., Håkansson 1981) are based on maculatus (Hughes 1977, 1983; Joger & Lambert 1996; Pauwels & Meirte 1996; Emms, Jambang, Bahl, Mankali, Paziaud & Barnett 2007). Records from Chad refer to resimus (Trape, Kodindo, Djiddi, Mad-Toïngué & Kerah 2020).
Distribution: Angola (incl. Cabinda), Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo-Kinshasa, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West Province, Western Cape), South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.