[Preliminary results of an herpetology investigation in sugar cane plantation in Democratic Republic of Congo].

Out of the 3,000 species of snakes described in the world, 163 are currently known from D.R. of Congo. We performed a systematic survey in sugar-cane plantations of the Sugar Company of Kwilu-Ngongo (Bas-Congo), located at 160 km South-West from Kinshasa and exploiting nearly 10,000 ha. The plantation is divided into 3 sectors in the middle of which we deposited barrels filled of formaldehyde. All the employees of the Sugar Company of Kwilu-Ngongo were requested to collect encountered snakes and put them in the nearest barrel. Between August 9th and September 21st, 2004, we collected 36 snakes in two different sites, revealing the presence of 3 families and 12 species. The most abundant species in Causus maculatus (47% in the first site--Point 8--and 29% in the second site--Point 13). The most poisonous and dangerous species were captured only in the first site--point 8, and were Dendroaspis jamesoni and Naja melanoleuca, both young.