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Pseudohaje nigra GÜNTHER, 1858

IUCN Red List - Pseudohaje nigra - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Black Tree Cobra, Hoodless Cobra 
SynonymPseudohaje nigra GÜNTHER 1858: 222 (non Naja nigra SMITH 1838)
Naia guentheri BOULENGER 1896: 388
Pseudohaje guentheri — BOGERT 1942
Pseudohaje nigra — LAURENT 1954
Pseudohaje nigra — RÖDEL et al. 1999
Pseudohaje nigra — DOBIEY & VOGEL 2007
Pseudohaje nigra — WALLACH et al. 2014: 603
Pseudohaje nigra — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022 
DistributionSierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Guinea (Conakry), Nigeria  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.21.41 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): “An elapid group, perhaps most closely allied to Naja Laurenti but differing from snakes of this genus in possessing more palatine, pterygoid and mandibular teeth and in having fewer rows of dorsal scales. Likewise it differs from snakes of the genus Naja in possessing a proportionately larger eye, a squamosal that extends hardly beyond the skull, a proportionately longer tail but relatively smaller fangs. Precise differences in skull shape and proportions may be observed in figures 3 and 4. Maxilla with paired fang sockets (one fang in either socket normally ancylosed), followed after a gap by from two to four small, recurved, feebly grooved teeth. Palatine teeth 10 to 17; pterygoid teeth 24 to 41. Anterior ribs scarcely longer than those on posterior of body. Dorsal scale formula normally 15-13-11, with reduction to thirteen scales occurring either on the neck or posterior to the middle of the body. Ratio of tail to total length .21 to .24. Adult coloration black above, either yellowish or whitish on the venter, with black margins on posterior edges of the ventrals. (Bogert 1942)


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CommentVenomous!

Type species: Pseudohaje nigra GÜNTHER 1858 is the type species of the genus Pseudohaje GÜNTHER 1858.

Distribution: see map in RASMUSSEN 1989. Not in Nigeria and the Central African Republic following Akani et al. 2005 and the IUCN map.

Nomenclature: Laurent (1954) corrected Pseudohaje guentheri to Pseudohaje nigra.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
References
  • Akani, G.C.; Angelici, F.M.; Luiselli, L. 2005. Ecological data on the Goldie's tree cobra, Pseudohaje goldii (Elapidae) in southern Nigeria. Amphibia-Reptilia 26 (3): 382-387 - get paper here
  • Bogert, C. M. 1942. Pseudohaje Günther, a valid genus for two West African arboreal cobras. American Museum Novitates 1174: 1-9 - 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, W. R. 1981. The venomous snakes of southern Africa 2. Elapidae and Hydrophidae. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 17 (1): 1-47 - 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
  • Dobiey, M. & Vogel, G. 2007. Venomous Snakes of Africa - Giftschlangen Afrikas. Edition Chimaira, Terralog 15, 150 pp. - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1858. Catalogue of Colubrine snakes of the British Museum. London, I - XVI, 1 - 281 - get paper here
  • Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 1976. Zoogeography of West African False Cobras (Pseudohaje spp.). Bull. IFAN 38 (sér. A, 2): 457-466
  • Laurent, RAYMOND F. 1954. Reptiles et batraciens de la région de Dundo (Angola) (Deuxième note). Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), Serviços Culturais, Publicações Culturais, No. 23: 37-84
  • Menzies, J.I. 1966. The snakes of Sierra Leone. Copeia 1966 (2): 169-179. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pauwels,O.S.G. & Ohler, A. 1999. Pseudohaje nigra (Günther 1858); Black Tree Cobra - Diet. African Herp News (30): 33-34 - get paper here
  • Rasmussen, J.B. 1989. A taxonomic review of the Dipsadoboa duchesnei complex. Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 40 (3/4): 249-264 - get paper here
  • Rödel,M.O.; Kouadio,K, & Mahsberg,D. 1999. Die Schlangenfauna des Comoé-Nationalparks, Elfenbeinküste: Ergänzungen und Ausblick. Salamandra 35 (3): 165-180 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Senter, P. J., & Chippaux, J. P. 2022. Biogeography of snakes in Liberia: Review and synthesis of current knowledge. Ghana Journal of Science, 63(1), 29-62 - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • 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
  • 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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