The Materialization of a Ghost: Redescription of Bedriaga's ‘Lost’ Specimen of Green Mamba (Elapidae: Dendroaspis) from Săo Tomé Island

Annales Zoologici 2026 Open access

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Authors: Ana Carolina A. Sousa, Dominika Mierzwa-Szymkowiak, Diogo Parrinha, Aaron M. Bauer, Mariana P. Marques, Paulo Passos, Luis M. P. Ceríaco
DOI: 10.3161/00034541anz2026.76.04.04
Cited by: 1
References: 4

Abstract

The Sao Tomé Green Mamba has long been considered one of the great enigmas of Gulf of Guinea herpetology, as the only specimens ever collected were destroyed or are missing. Here we report the rediscovery of one of these specimens, collected in 1885 by Adolfo Möller and long thought lost, housed in the Museum and Institute of Zoology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. A detailed re-examination of this specimen provides the first opportunity in over a century to reassess its morphology and clarifies historical ambiguities in Bedriaga's description, particularly morphology overlaps with continental Dendroaspis viridis. A detailed history of the specimen is also presented, as well as future research directions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Primate Behavior and Ecology Amphibian and Reptile Biology

Publication details

Journal / source
Annales Zoologici
Publisher
Museum and Institute of Zoology at the Polish Academy of Sciences
Volume
76
Issue
4
Pages
1-15
Publication date
24 April 2026