NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Bocourt's Snake-eater
Polemon bocourti Mocquard, 1897
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Polemon bocourti, or Bocourt's snake-eater, is a species of mildly venomous rear-fanged snake in the subfamily Aparallactinae of the family Atractaspididae. The species is endemic to Central Africa (from Cameroon through Equatorial Guinea to Gabon and east to the Republic and Democratic Republic of the Congo).
Wikipedia contributors, Polemon bocourti; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:51:31.151551+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Polemon bocourti Mocquard, 1897
- Name authority
- Mocquard, 1897
- Common name
- Bocourt's Snake-eater
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Atractaspididae
- Genus
- Polemon
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyAtractaspididae
- subfamilyAparallactinae
- genusPolemon
- speciesPolemon bocourti Mocquard, 1897
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Polemon. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Guinea Snake-eaterPolemon barthii Jan, 1858 | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eastern Snake-eaterPolemon christyi (Boulenger, 1903) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Collared Snake-eaterPolemon collaris (Peters, 1881) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Gaboon Snake-eaterPolemon gabonensis (Duméril, 1856) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Graceful Snake-eaterPolemon gracilis (Boulenger, 1911) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cameroon Snake-eaterPolemon griseiceps (Laurent, 1947) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ivory Coast Snake-eaterPolemon neuwiedi (Jan, 1858) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Reinhardt's Snake-eaterPolemon acanthias (Reinhardt, 1861) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Polemon notatus (Peters, 1882) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Zaire Snake-eaterPolemon robustus (de Witte & Laurent, 1943) | AtractaspididaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Aparallactus hagmanni Gough, 1902 Gough, 1902 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Polemon&species=bocourti Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4KXFB. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.