Dasypeltis atra STERNFELD, 1912

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Higher Taxa	Colubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: African Egg-eating Snake, Montane Egg-eater G: Schwarze Eierschlange, (Rote) Hochland-Eierschlange
Synonym	Dasypeltis scabra var. atra STERNFELD 1912 Dasypeltis atra — BROADLEY 1998 Dasypeltis atra — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 494 Dasypeltis atra — WALLACH et al. 2014: 209 Dasypeltis lineolata PETERS 1878: 206 Dasypeltis palmarum — FISCHER 1884a: 12 (not LEACH) Dasypeltis scabra var. F — BOULENGER 1894: 356 (part) Dasypeltis scabra var. F — ANGEL 1925: 34 Dasypeltis palmarum ? STEJNEGER 1894: 733 (not LEACH) Dasypeltis scabra — BOULENGER 1896: 553 (not Linnaeus) Dasypeltis scabra — STERNFELD 1908: 240, 332 Dasypeltis scabra — ROUX 1910: 99 Dasypeltis scabra — BOULENGER 1909: 303 Dasypeltis scabra — PERACCA 1909: 173 Dasypeltis scabra — BOULENGER 1911: 5 & 1912: 332 Dasypeltis scabra — LOVERIDGE 1916: 79 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — LÖNNBERG 1922: 7 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — LOVERIDGE 1929: 28 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — PARKER 1932: 220 Dasypeltis scabra — LOVERIDGE 1936a: 34 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — MERTENS 1938: 8 Dasypeltis scabra — GANS 1959: 141 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — SPWALS 1978: 10 Dasypeltis scabra — LARGEN & RASMUSSEN 1993: 340 (part) Dasypeltis scabra — FLEMMING & BATES 1999: 423 Dasypeltis scabra — WAGNER & BÖHME 2007: 136 Dasypeltis scabra var. atra — STERNFELD 1912: 272 Dasypeltis scabra var. atra — GANS 1961: 73 Dasypeltis scabra var. palmarum — ANGEL 1925: 34 (not LEACH) Dasypeltis scaber — LOVERIDGE 1929: 28 (part) (not Linnaeus) Dasypeltis scaber — PARKER 1932: 220 Dasypeltis scaber — LOVERIDGE 1936a: 34 (part) Dasypeltis scaber — LOVERIDGE 1936b: 256 Dasypeltis scaber — UTHMÖLLER 1937: 113 (part) Dasypeltis scaber scaber — BOGERT 1940: 85 (part) (not Linnaeus) Dasypeltis scaber palmarum — LOVERIDGE 1942: 285 (not LEACH) Dasypeltis scaber palmarum — LOVERIDGE 1946: 106. Dasypeltis scabra palmarum — LOVERIDGE 1955: 11 (not LEACH) Dasypeltis scaber ater — LAURENT 1956: 261 Dasypeltis scaber ater — CURRY-LINDAHL 1956: 47 Dasypeltis scaber ater — HINKEL 1986: 25 Dasypeltis scabra atra — DE WITTE 1962: 139 Dasypeltis scabra atra — BOURGEOIS 1968: 284 Dasypeltis atra — GANS 1964: 279 Dasypeltis atra — GANS 1971: 461 Dasypeltis atra — GANS 1974: 47 Dasypeltis atra — LAURENT, 1965: 14 Dasypeltis atra — PITMAN 1974: 119 Dasypeltis atra — HINKEL & FISCHER 1988: 16 Dasypeltis atra — HINKEL & FISCHER 1990: 137 Dasypeltis scaber var. lineolata — TRAPE & MANÉ 2006: 53 (in error) Dasypeltis atra — BROADLEY & BATES 2009 Dasypeltis atra — BATES & BROADLEY 2018: 30 Dasypeltis atra — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 514
Distribution	N/E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Uganda, Kenya, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Ethiopia, N Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi. Type locality: Virgin forest behind boundary mountains on northwest shore of Lake Tanganyika, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (”Urwald hinter den Randbergen am Nordwestufer des Tanganyika-Sees” lineolata: Kenya; Type locality: Kitui, Kenya.
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Syntypes: ZMB 22516 A & B, 27761 Holotype: ZMB 9224 [lineolata]
Diagnosis
Comment	Synonymy: D. lineolata has priority over D. atra but has hardly been used as a valid name after 1899). In order to maintain nomenclatural stability the ICZN has been requested (Bates 2017, submitted; Case 3750) to suppress the older name D. lineolata by taking action according to Article 23.9.3 by use of its plenary power (Article 81; ICZN 1999). We maintain prevailing usage of the name D. atra according to Article 82.1 (ICZN 1999) following Bates & Broadley 2018. Distribution: see map in GÖTHEL 2015: 19. Variation: there are black, dorsally brown, and reddish varieties of this species. Habitat. Found mainly in high elevation savannah and forest, usually above 1500 m (e.g. Fig. 21 in Bates & Broadley 2018). Sympatry. Sympatric with D. medici at Nyambene Hills (Kenya) and Moshi (Tanzania); sympatric with D. confusa 10 km S of Juba (South Sudan), at Busingiro and Gulu (Uganda) and Kacheliba (Kenya); sympatric with D. scabra at Aware Melca and Lake Abiata (Ethio- pia), Mulema (Uganda), Lake Naivasha and Mount Kulal (Kenya), Astrida (Rwanda) and Minziro Fo- rest Reserve (Tanzania); sympatric with D. abyssina at Keriyo (Ethiopia); sympatric with both D. medici and D. scabra at Mount Kilimanjaro (Bates & Broadley 2018: Appendix 1).
Etymology	Named after its color, Latin “ater, atra, atrum” = dark or black.
References	Bates, M.F. & D.G. Broadley 2018. A revision of the egg-eating snakes of the genus Dasypeltis Wagler (Squamata: Colubridae: Colubrinae) in north-eastern Africa and south-western Arabia, with descriptions of three new species. Indago 34 (1): 1-95 - get paper here Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70 Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp. Broadley, Donald G. and Michael F. Bates 2009. New range extensions for Dasypeltis atra Sternfeld in Tanzania (Serpentes: Colubridae), with a review of the distribution of colour phases. African Journal of Herpetology 58 (1): 50-55. - get paper here Chifundera, K. 1990. Snakes of Zaire and their bites. Afr. Stud. Monogr. (Kyoto) 10(3): 137-157. Chippaux, Jean-Philippe & Kate Jackson 2019. Snakes of Central and Western Africa. Johns Hopkins University Press, 448 pp. [detaileld review in HR 51 (1): 161] - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Eierschlangenarten Afrikas. Draco 16 (61): 78-92 - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Erkrankungen und Parasiten bei Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 70-76 - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Nachzucht von Afrikanischen Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 62-69 - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Afrikanische Eierschlangen im Terrarium. Draco 16 (61): 54-61 - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Das Fressverhalten Afrikanischer Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 28-37 - get paper here Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Pazifisten unter den Schlangen – Afrikanische Eierschlangen der Gattung Dasypeltis. Draco 16 (61): 6-21 - get paper here Gravlund,P. et al. 1998. Geographic distribution: Dasypeltis atra. Herpetological Review 29 (1): 53 - get paper here Kulmus, H. 1985. Einige Anmerkungen zur Zucht und Haltung von Eierschlangen. Herpetofauna 7 (36): 23-34 - get paper here Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp. Largen,M.J. & Rasmussen,J.B. 1993. Catalogue of the snakes of Ethiopia (Reptilia Serpentes), including identification keys. Tropical Zoology 6: 313-434 - get paper here Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp. Spawls, Stephen; Tomáš Mazuch& Abubakr Mohammad 2023. Handbook of Amphibians and Reptiles of North-east Africa. Bloomsbury, 640 pp. - get paper here Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here Sternfeld, R. 1912. IV. Zoologie II. Lfg. Reptilia. In: Schubotz., R. (ed.): Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Zentral-Afrika Expedition 1907- 1908, unter Führung A. Friedrichs, Herzogs zu Mecklenburg. Klinkhard und Biermann, Leipzig: 197-279 [published 1912, not 1913, as often cited, see Männel & Kucharzewski 2017] - get paper here VAN DE LOOCK, D. & BATES, M.F. 2016. Dasypeltis atra Sternfeld, 1913, Diet and Distribution. African Herp News (63): 16-18 - get paper here Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.calacademy.org/research/herpetology/frogs/frogsimp/replist.htm https://www.facebook.com/groups/stshc/posts/376367724587832/ http://www.bio-ken.com/index.php/reptiles-and-amphibians/snakes/category… https://endemia.nc/en/faune/fiche7701 Google images

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