The Herald Snakes (Crotaphopeltis) of the Central African Republic, including a systematic review of C. hippocrepis

The recent collecting of more than 300 specimens of Crotaphopeltis from the Central African Republic not only provides new records of the ubiquitous species C. hotamboeia, but also provides records of two other species, C. hippocrepis and C. degeni, so far unknown for the country. Variation in external and internal characters has been examined in the specimens and the results have been analysed. The analysis of Crotaphopeltis hippocrepis has been extended to deal with all available material from the entire distribution area of this little known western African species.