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Dipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER, 1858

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Günther's Green Tree Snake 
SynonymDipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER 1858: 138
Dipsadoboa unicolor — LOVERIDGE 1936: 35
Dipsadoboa unicolor viridiventris LAURENT 1956
Dipsadoboa unicolor viridiventris — PITMAN 1974
Dipsadoboa unicolor — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Dipsadoboa unicolor — BÖHME et al. 2011: 45
Dipsadoboa unicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 232
Dipsadoboa unicolor — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 530 
DistributionUganda, Rwanda, Burundi, N/E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea (Conakry), Liberia, Tanzania, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Equatorial Guinea

Type locality: West Africa.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.4.84 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): A typical boigine snake genus, which is closely related to Crotaphopeltis. The most prominent characters separating these two genera are the well-developed venom gland, the higher number of ventrals and subcaudals, and the usually three pointed parasphenoid in Dipsadoboa, and the absence of gular shields in Crotaphopeltis. (Rasmussen 1979: 152)


Additional details (5487 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentDistribution: Not reported from Benin according to ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010, but possibly Benin (Hughes 2013). For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Habitat: forest floor. Semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Type species: Dipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER 1858 is the type species of the genus Dipsadoboa GÜNTHER 1858.

Diet: Chameleons have been recorded in the diet of all other members of the D. werneri group (Rasmussen 1986; Haagner et al. 2000), and are plentiful in the forests of Mt Mabu (Branch & Tolley 2010; Branch et al. 2014) and Mt Ribáuè (Conradie et al. 2016). In contrast, frogs form the dominant diet of the D. aulica group (Stevens 1964; Broadley & Stevens 1971; Rasmussen 1989a).

Tables of scale counts etc across genus: Rasmussen 1993.

Key to species: Rasmussen 1993: 155

Groups: Rasmussen 1993 grouped the genus into 4 groups: the werneri group (werneri, shrevei), the aulica group (aulica, flavida), the duchesnei group (duchesnei, brevirostris), and the unicolor group (unicolor, isolepis, elongata).

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after the Latin numbers unus (one) and Latin color, for the uniform green color.

The genus was named after Latin Dipsas, snake genus due to Laurenti, 1768 + Latin Boa, snake genus due to Linnaeus, 1758. [?]. 
References
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  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • BRANCH, WILLIAM R.; JULIAN BAYLISS, GABRIELA B. BITTENCOURT-SILVA, WERNER CONRADIE, HANLIE M. ENGELBRECHT, SIMON P. LOADER, MICHELE MENEGON, CRISTÓVÃO NANVONAMUQUITXO, KRYSTAL A. TOLLEY 2019. A new species of tree snake (Dipsadoboa, Serpentes: Colubridae) from ‘sky island’ forests in northern Mozambique, with notes on other members of the Dipsadoboa werneri group. Zootaxa 4646 (3): 541–563 - get paper here
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