So not the natural photography I usually try to achieve, but that's a tad difficult with a DOR
Yesterday midday I was driving on a dirt road in the middle of the Otavi Mountains south of Tsumeb. I have spent quite a bit of time in the area so I kinda know which snakes to expect.
As I was travelling I passed a DOR and thought I would stop and quickly snip off the tail for pickling (I have been asked to collect as many samples as I can from all and any species) but when I turned around, I immediately saw that this was not one of the species I had known from the area. It was a Crotaphopeltis sp. Of course I don't know all the distributions off the top of my head so when I got home I quickly checked the books and the nearest record to the location was about 350km to the east in the Caprivi/NW Botswana.
I did some detailed scale counts and all clues point to C. hotamboeia, so not a new species, but a significant range extension.
In the pictures, note the strange shape of the head and eye. I can't put my finger on it, but it doesn't look like a typical Herald.




And then also found this big guy, about a 2m D. polylepis crossing the road. I was in the middle of nowhere so didnt want to risk messing with it, so I just chased it off the road from the safety of my bakkie, haha.


Thanx for looking.
"I am dying by inches from not having anybody to talk to about insects." - Charles Darwin