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Dasypeltis confusa TRAPE & MANÉ, 2006

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Diamond-back Egg-eater, Confusing Egg Eater
G: Westafrikanische Eierschlange 
SynonymDasypeltis confusa TRAPE & MANÉ 2006
Dasypeltis confusa — PAUWELS & VENDE WEGHE 2008
Dasypeltis confusa — BATES 2013
Dasypeltis confusa — WALLACH et al. 2014: 210
Dasypeltis scabra scabra — LOVERIDGE 1955: 46 (not Linnaeus)
Dasypeltis scabra — GANS 1959: 141 (part, ‘5L’) (not Linnaeus)
Dasypeltis scabra — PITMAN 1974: 116 (part)
Dasypeltis scabra — HUGHES, 1997: 68 (part)
Dasypeltis scabra — BEHANGANA & GOODMAN 2002: 66 (part)
Dasypeltis confusa — BATES & BROADLEY 2018: 13
Dasypeltis confusa — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 517
Dasylepis confusa — BRANCH 2018 (in error) 
DistributionRepublic of South Sudan (RSS), Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Togo, Nigeria, Mali, Chad, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Angola

Type locality: Ibel (12°31’N, 12°23’W), Sénégal oriental.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 2006.0303 (formerly IRD S-3105), collected between March 1993 and February 1994 by a villager that give it to the authors; paratypes IRD (Daker, Senegal) and MNHN-RA 2006.0304-0307 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy: after BATES & BROADLEY 2018.

Description of holotype: for French description see TRAPE & MANÉ 2006.

Description des autres spécimens: Les 32 spécimens de Guinée et du Bénin se répartissent en 11 mâles, 15 femelles et 6 spécimens mutilés. Le plus grand mâle mesure 540 mm, la plus grande femelle 742 mm. La longueur moyenne des mâles est de 393 mm (écart-type : ± 102 mm), celle des femelles est de 498 mm (écart-type : ± 183 mm). Le rapport LT/LQ varie de 5,6 à 6,3 chez les mâles (moyenne : 5,9 ; écart-type : ± 0,3) et de 6,8 à 7,8 chez les femelles (moyenne : 7,2 ; écart-type : ±0,3). Le nombre de rangs dorsaux varie de 23 à 25 chez les mâles (moyenne : 24,6) et de 24 à 26 chez les femelles (moyenne : 25,0). Le nombre de ventrales varie de 213 à 223 chez les mâles (moyenne : 218,4 ; écart-type : ± 3,3) et de 224 à 236 chez les femelles (moyenne : 230,7 ; écart-type : ± 3,7). Le nombre de sous-caudales varie de 66 à 73 chez les mâles (moyenne : 68,6 ; écart-type : ± 2,4) et de 56 à 64 chez les femelles (moyenne : 59,3 ; écart-type : ± 2,4). La nasale est toujours semi-divisée. Les autres caractéristiques de l’écaillure de ces spécimens et leur coloration sont similaires à celles des exemplaires du Sénégal [from TRAPE & MANÉ 2006].

Distribution: see map in GÖTHEL 2015: 19. Not in Liberia fide Senter & Chippaux 2022.

Habitat. Found in savannah at elevations of 500 m to 1200 m.

Sympatry. Sympatric with D. atra 10 km S of Juba (South Sudan), Busingiro and Gulu (Uganda) and Kacheliba (Kenya); sympatric with D. scabra at Lake Kivu (Rwanda) (BATES & BROADLEY 2018).

Mimicry. The dorsal pattern of D. confusa closely resembles that of the night adders Causus rhombeatus (Lichtenstein), C. bilineatus Boulenger, C. defilippii (Jan) and C. maculatus (Hallowell) which all occur in north-eastern Africa (Spawls et al. 2002; Rasmussen 2005; Dobiey & Vogel 2007). 
EtymologyNamed for the fact that it has been confused with other Dasypeltis species previously. 
References
  • Bates, M.F. 2013. First records of the egg-eating snake Dasypeltis confusa Trape & Mane, 2006 in Nigeria and Chad, with range extensions for Ghana. Navors. nas. Mus., Bloemfontein 29 (2): 17-27.
  • 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
  • Böhme, Wolfgang, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Christian Brede & Philipp Wagner 2011. The reptiles (Testudines, Squamata, Crocodylia) of the forested southeast of the Republic Guinea (Guinée forestière), with a country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 60 (1): 35-61 - get paper here
  • Branch, William R.; Pedro Vaz Pinto, Ninda Baptista, and Werner Conradie 2019. The Reptiles of Angola: History, Diversity, Endemism and Hotspots. Chapter 13 in: B. J. Huntley et al. (eds.), Biodiversity of Angola. Springer Verlag, pp. 283-334 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • CONRADIE, WERNER; NINDA L. BAPTISTA, LUKE VERBURGT, CHAD KEATES, JAMES HARVEY, TIMOTEO JULIO & GOTZ NEEF. 2021. Contributions to the herpetofauna of the Angolan Okavango-Cuando-Zambezi river drainages. Part 1: Serpentes (snakes). Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 15(2): 244–278. - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Eierschlangenarten Afrikas. Draco 16 (61): 78-92 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Pazifisten unter den Schlangen – Afrikanische Eierschlangen der Gattung Dasypeltis. Draco 16 (61): 6-21 - get paper here
  • Pauwels OSG, Morelle S, Albert J-L, Carlino P, Rahola N, Trape J-F. 2019. New reptile records from Lékédi Park and Haut-Ogooué Province, southeastern Gabon. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1) [General Section]: 143–161 (e174) - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • ROSENFELD, T 2020. Geographic Distribution: Dasypeltis confusa (Diamondback Egg-Eating Snake). USA: Florida: Broward Co. Herpetological Review 51: 78-79.
  • Segniagbeto GLazcano. H., Trape J. F., David P., Ohler A., Dubois A. & Glitho I. A. 2011. The snake fauna of Togo: systematics, distribution and biogeography, with remarks on selected taxonomic problems. Zoosystema 33 (3): 325-360. DOI: 10.5252/z2011n3a4 - get paper here
  • 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
  • TRAPE Jean-François and Youssouph MANÉ 2006. Le genre Dasypeltis Wagler (Serpentes : Colubridae) en Afrique de l’Ouest : description de trois espèces et d’une sous-espèce nouvelles. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 119: 27-56 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp. - get paper here
  • TRAPE, JEAN-FRANÇOIS & CELLOU BALDÉ 2014. A checklist of the snake fauna of Guinea, with taxonomic changes in the genera Philothamnus and Dipsadoboa (Colubridae) and a comparison with the snake fauna of some other West African countries. Zootaxa 3900 (3): 301–338 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François; Israël Demba Kodindo, Ali Sougoudi Djiddi, Joseph Mad-Toïngué & Clément Hinzoumbé Kerah 2020. The snakes of Chad: results of a field survey and annotated country-wide checklist. Bonn zoological Bulletin 69 (2): 367–393 - get paper here
  • Trape, Jean-François & Youssouph Mané 2017. The snakes of Mali. Bonn zoological Bulletin 66 (2): 107–133 - get paper here
  • TRAPE, Jean-François; Oleg MEDIANNIKOV, Allan CHIRIO & Laurent CHIRIO 2021. Une nouvelle espèce de serpent mangeur d’œufs du genre Dasypeltis Wagler (Squamata : Colubridae : Colubrinae) en Afrique centrale. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 177: 65-80
  • Trape, S.; Mediannikov, O.; Trape, J.F. 2012. When colour patterns reflect phylogeography: New species of Dasypeltis (Serpentes: Colubridae: Boigini) from West Africa. Comptes Rendus Biologies 335 (7): 488–501 - 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.
 
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