NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Sao Tome Wood Snake
Philothamnus thomensis Bocage, 1882
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.
Philothamnus thomensis or Suá-suá de São Tomé.on the way from Roça São João dos Angolares to Roça Vale Carmo
Lobo Cabo Verde · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Pthilothamnus thomensis (São Tomé wood snake) is a species of snakes of the family Colubridae. It is endemic to the island of São Tomé in São Tomé and Príncipe. The species was described in 1882 by José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage.
Wikipedia contributors, Philothamnus thomensis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:26:56.922086+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Philothamnus thomensis Bocage, 1882
- Name authority
- Bocage, 1882
- Common name
- Sao Tome Wood Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Colubridae
- Genus
- Philothamnus
- 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
- familyColubridae
- subfamilyColubrinae
- genusPhilothamnus
- speciesPhilothamnus thomensis Bocage, 1882
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Philothamnus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Bequaert's Green SnakePhilothamnus bequaerti (Schmidt, 1923) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Thirteen-scaled Green SnakePhilothamnus carinatus (Andersson, 1901) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Annobon Wood SnakePhilothamnus girardi Bocage, 1893 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Slender Green SnakePhilothamnus heterolepidotus (Günther, 1863) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Hughes' Green SnakePhilothamnus hughesi Trape & Roux-Estève, 1990 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Large-eyed Green SnakePhilothamnus macrops (Boulenger, 1895) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cameroons Wood SnakePhilothamnus nitidus (Günther, 1863) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Philothamnus pobeguini (Chabanaud, 1916) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Spotted Bush SnakePhilothamnus semivariegatus (Smith, 1840) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Western Natal Green SnakePhilothamnus occidentalis Broadley, 1966 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Philothamnus belli (Günther, 1866) | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Angola Green SnakePhilothamnus angolensis Bocage, 1882 | ColubridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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=Philothamnus&species=thomensis 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.
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:76YXR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.