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Dasypeltis atra STERNFELD, 1912

IUCN Red List - Dasypeltis atra - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: African Egg-eating Snake, Montane Egg-eater
G: Schwarze Eierschlange, (Rote) Hochland-Eierschlange 
SynonymDasypeltis scabra var. atra STERNFELD 1912: 272
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 
DistributionN/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.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 22516 A & B, 27761
Holotype: ZMB 9224 [lineolata] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 5930 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: 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). 
EtymologyNamed 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 Pazifisten unter den Schlangen – Afrikanische Eierschlangen der Gattung Dasypeltis. Draco 16 (61): 6-21 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Das Fressverhalten Afrikanischer Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 28-37 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Afrikanische Eierschlangen im Terrarium. Draco 16 (61): 54-61 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Nachzucht von Afrikanischen Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 62-69 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Erkrankungen und Parasiten bei Eierschlangen. Draco 16 (61): 70-76 - get paper here
  • Göthel, Helmut 2015. Die Eierschlangenarten Afrikas. Draco 16 (61): 78-92 - 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
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • 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.
 
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