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Dendroaspis polylepis GÜNTHER, 1864

IUCN Red List - Dendroaspis polylepis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Black Mamba
G: Schwarze Mamba 
SynonymDendraspis polylepis GÜNTHER 1864: 310
Dendraspis antinorii PETERS 1873
Dendraspis angusticeps BOULENGER 1896: 437
Dendraspis mamba GOUGH 1908
Dendraspis mamba — FITZSIMONS 1912
Dendraspis angusticeps — LOVERIDGE 1936: 42 ?
Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis — LOVERIDGE 1955
Dendroaspis polylepis antinorii — SPAWLS 1978
Dendroaspis polylepis — AUERBACH 1987: 201
Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis — WELCH 1994: 55
Dendroaspis polylepis antinori — WELCH 1994: 55
Dendroaspis polylepis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 24
Dendroaspis polylepis —TRAPE & MANEÉ 2006
Dendroaspis polylepis — TRAPE & BALDÉ 2014
Dendroaspis polylepis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 223
Dendroaspis polylepis — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 564
Dendroaspis Polulepis — ICLEI 2023 (in error) 
DistributionAngola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Senegal, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon (Adamaoua [HR 35: 191]), Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of South Africa (Eastern Cape etc.), Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia, Zimbabwe, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Sudan (Jumhūriyyat)

antinori: Somalia, Ethiopia, NE Uganda, N Kenya; Type locality: Ansaba = Anseba, Eritrea, Ethiopia.

Type locality: Zambezi River, Mozambique.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.20.53 (orig. BMNH 1864.6.28.15), skin of an 1829 mm specimen (J. Kirk).
Holotype: MSNG 31016 [antinorii] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (685 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous! Peptides from the black mamba (mambalgins), are not toxic in mice but show a potent analgesic effect upon central and peripheral injection that can be as strong as morphine (Diochot et al. 2012).

Synonymy: Most authors list antinorii as synonym (e.g. BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991, Golay 1993, Largen 1997)

Distribution: not in Mali fide Trape & Mané 2017.

Habitat: partly arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
References
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