Misidentification of Dromophis lineatus (Dumèril & Bibron, 1854) as Psammophis sibilans (Linné 1758) and the perpetuation of error

Abstract

Being struck by the number of instances of misidentification of Dromophis lineatus as Psammophis spp. by recognised authorities, I have summarised those that have come to my notice and tried to draw some useful conclusions from such errors. These are: whatever overall authority a worker may have, his experience of a particular species may be quite limited and his efficacy in identifying specimens of species with which he is unfamiliar may be no better than anyone else. The identifying of specimens is commonly by use of a key which, by its nature, can generate an unacceptable level of error; identifications should not be taken at face value, but evaluated against the data accompanying them.