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Dendroaspis polylepis GÜNTHER, 1864

IUCN Red List - Dendroaspis polylepis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Serpentes (snakes) 
SubspeciesDendroaspis polylepis polylepis (GÜNTHER, 1864)
Dendroaspis polylepis antinori (PETERS, 1873) 
Common NamesE: Black Mamba
G: Schwarze Mamba 
SynonymDendroaspis polylepis polylepis GÜNTHER 1864
Dendraspis polylepis GÜNTHER 1864: 310
Dendraspis angusticeps BOULENGER 1896: 437
Dendraspis angusticeps — LOVERIDGE 1936: 42 ?
Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis — LOVERIDGE 1955
Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis — WELCH 1994: 55
Dendroaspis polylepis — AUERBACH 1987: 201
Dendroaspis polylepis — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 24
Dendroaspis polylepis —TRAPE & MANEÉ 2006

Dendroaspis polylepis antinorii (PETERS 1873)
Dendraspis antinorii PETERS 1873
Dendroaspis polylepis antinori — WELCH 1994: 55 
DistributionAngola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Cameroon (Adamaoua [HR 35: 191]), Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Republic of South Africa, Somalia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, N/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Zambia, Zimbabwe

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

Type locality: Zambezi River, Mozambique. Map legend:
TDWG region - Region according to the TDWG standard, not a precise distribution map.

NOTE: TDWG regions are generated automatically from the text in the distribution field and this does not always work properly. We are working on it.
 
Types 
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).

BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991 list Dendraspis antinorii as a synonym of D. polylepis.

Reproduction: oviparous 
References
  • Armitage, W. W. 1965. Observations on Differences in Morphology and Behavior of Dendroaspis angusticeps and Dendroaspis polylepis Jour. Herp. Ass. Afr. (1): 12-16 - get paper here
  • Auerbach,R.D. 1987. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Botswana. Mokwepa Consultants, Botswana, 295 pp.
  • Bauer, Aaron M.; Branch, William R. & Haacke, Wulf D. 1993. The herpetofauna of the Kamanjab area and adjacent Damaraland, Namibia. Madoqua (Windhoek), 18 (2): 117-145.
  • BAYNHAM, T. 2010. Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis (Günther, 1864) Afr. Herp News (51): 25-27
  • Boycott, R.C. 1992. An Annotated Checklist of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Swaziland. The Conservation Trust of Swaziland, 1992; online at http://www.sntc.org.sz/checklst/sdreptam.html.
  • 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. 1959. The herpetology of Southern Rhodesia. Part I--the snakes Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 120 (1): 1-100 [reprint 1972] - get paper here
  • Broadley, D.G. 1961. Snakes of Southem Rhodesia. 11. The Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis). Afr. Wild Life 15: 299-302.
  • Broadley, D.G. 1991. The Herpetofauna of Northern Mwinilunga Distr., Northw. Zambia. Arnoldia Zimbabwe 9 (37): 519-538
  • Broadley, D.G.; Doria, C.T. & Wigge, J. 2003. Snakes of Zambia. An Atlas and Field Guide. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 280 pp. [review in Sauria 26 (3): 21]
  • Broadley, Donald G. and F. P. D. Cotterill. 2004. The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot'. [Congo] African Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 35-61. - get paper here
  • Broadley,D.G. 1962. On some reptile collections from the North-Western and North-Eastern Districts of Southern Rhodesia 1958-1961, with descriptions of four new lizards. Occ. Pap. Nat. Mus. South. Rhodesia 26 (B): 787-843
  • CASTOE, Todd A.; ERIC N. SMITH, RAFE M. BROWN and CHRISTOPHER L. PARKINSON 2007. Higher-level phylogeny of Asian and American coralsnakes, their placement within the Elapidae (Squamata), and the systematic affinities of the enigmatic Asian coralsnake Hemibungarus calligaster (Wiegmann, 1834). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 151, 809–831 - get paper here
  • Chifundera, K. 1990. Snakes of Zaire and their bites. Afr. Stud. Monogr. (Kyoto) 10(3): 137-157.
  • Chirio, L. & Lebreton, M. 2007. Atlas des reptiles du Cameroun. MNHN, IRD, Paris 688 pp.
  • Diochot, Sylvie; Anne Baron, Miguel Salinas, Dominique Douguet, Sabine Scarzello, Anne-Sophie Dabert 2012. Black mamba venom peptides target acid-sensing ion channels to abolish pain. Nature 490: 552–555 - get paper here
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa/Giftschlangen Afrikas. Terralog 15, Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 150 pp.
  • Föhrenbach,H. 1982. Dendroaspis polylepis in Westafrika. Herpetofauna 4 (17): 34 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1864. Report on a collection of reptiles and fishes made by Dr. Kirk in the Zambesi and Nyassa Regions. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864: 303-314 [310] - get paper here
  • Haagner,G.V.; Branch,W.R. & Haagner,A.J.F. 2000. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Zambia and adjacent areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Annals of the Eastern Cape Museum 1: 1 – 25
  • Jacobsen, Niels H.G.; Errol W. Pietersen & Darren W. Pietersen 2010. A preliminary herpetological survey of the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary on the San Sebastian Peninsula, Vilankulo, Mozambique. Herpetology Notes 3: 181-193
  • Lanza, B. 1990. Amphibians and reptiles of the Somali Democratic Republic: check list and biogeography. Biogeographia, 14: 407-465 [1988]
  • Largen, M.J.; Spawls, S. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 694 pp.
  • LeBreton, Matthew 1999. A working checklist of the herpetofauna of Cameroon. Netherlands Committee for IUCN, 160 pp.
  • Loveridge, A. 1956. On snakes collected in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by J.S. Owen, Esq. Sudan Notes Rec. 36: 37-56 [1955]
  • Loveridge,A. 1936. African reptiles and amphibians in the Field Museum of Natural History. Zool. Ser. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Chicago, 22 (1): 1-122 - get paper here
  • MARITZ, B. & ALEXANDER, G.J. 2010. Dendroaspis polylepis polylepis (Günther, 1864) Afr. Herp News (51): 27-28
  • Monzel, Markus M 2012. Gifte, Gifttiere, Menschen – eine Geschichte voller (Miss)Verständnisse Draco 13 (51): 4-25 - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1873. Über zwei Giftschlangen aus Afrika und über neue oder weniger bekannte Gattungen und Arten von Batrachiern. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1873 (Mai): 411-418 - get paper here
  • Phelps, Tony 2002. A study of the Black Mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, with particular reference to long-term-refugia. Herpetological Bulletin (80):7-19
  • Spawls, S., Branch,B. 1995. The Dangerous Snakes of Africa. Blandford, London, 192 pp.
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2001. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147]
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mane, Y. 2004. Les serpents des environs de Bandafassi (Sénégal oriental). Bull. Soc. Herp. France 109: 5-34 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mane, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp.
  • Trape, J.-F.; Mane, Y. & Baldé, C. 2005. La mamba noir Dendroaspis polylepis (Serpentes: Elapidae) en Afrique de l’Ouest. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 115: 31-36 - get paper here
  • Valverde, J. 2008. Mambas. Reptilia (Münster) 13 (70): 18-25 - get paper here
 
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