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Dendroaspis viridis (HALLOWELL, 1844)

IUCN Red List - Dendroaspis viridis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Western Green Mamba
G: Grüne Mamba 
SynonymLeptophis viridis HALLOWELL 1844: 172
Leptophis viridis — HALLOWELL 1854: 100
Dendraspis viridis — BOULENGER 1896: 435
Dendraspis viridis [sic] — WERNER 1899
Dendroaspis viridis — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Dendroaspis viridis hallowelli YEOMANS 1993
Dendroaspis viridis — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Dendroaspis viridis hallowelli — BARNETT & EMMS 2005
Dendroaspis viridis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 223
Dendroaspis viridis — SENTER & CHIPPAUX 2022 
DistributionGambia, Senegal, Guinea (Conakry), Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, Central African Republic ?, Togo, Nigeria

Type locality: Liberia  
Reproductionoviparous (6-14 eggs, hatchlings 40-45 m) 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 6893 
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 1636 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Distribution: For St. Tomé island Bocage (1892) refers to the green mamba with rows of scales. This agrees with D. viridis (wich Bocage probably was not aware at that time), not with D. jamesonii; in 1905 Bocage corrects D. jamesonii to D. viridis. See CHIRIO & INEICH 2006 for a discussion of D. viridis in the Central African Republic.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Latin viridis, green. 
References
  • Aeberhard, R. 2008. Beobachtungen zum Verhalten der grün gefärbten Mambas (Dendroaspis viridis, D. angusticeps und D. jamesoni kaimosae) im Terrarium. Reptilia (Münster) 13 (70): 26-30 - get paper here
  • Akeret, B. 2004. Grundlagen der Giftschlangenhaltung. Draco 5 (17): 37-53 - get paper here
  • Barnett, Linda K. 2001. The herpetofauna of Abuko Nature Reserve, the Gambia. Herpetological Bulletin (77): 5-1 - get paper here
  • Barnett, Linda K. & Emms, Craig 2005. Common reptiles of The Gambia. Rare Repro, Hailsham, East Sussex, 24 pp.
  • Bocage, J.V.B. du 1905. Contribution à la faune des quatre îles du Golfe de Guinée, IV- Île de St. Thomé. Jorn. Acad. Sci. Lisboa, VII (2): 65-96
  • Bocage,J.V.B. du 1892. Note sur le « Dendroaspis » de l´ile de St. Thomé. Journ. Acad. Sci. Lisboa, II (8): 265-266
  • Bocage,J.V.B. du 1892. Notice sur les Amphibiens et Reptiles recueillis par M.A.F. Moller aux îles de la Guinée par le Dr. J. Bedriaga. Journ. Acad. Sci. Lisboa, II (9): 229-232
  • 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
  • Briscoe, M.S. 1949. Notes on Snakes Collected in Liberia. Copeia 1949 (1): 16-18 - 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
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  • Hallowell,E. 1854. Remarks on the geographical distribution of reptiles, with descriptions of several species supposed to be new, and corrections of former papers. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1854: 98-105 - get paper here
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  • 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
  • Segniagbeto, G. H., Dekawole, J. K., Ayoro, J. H., Ketoh, G. K., Sinsin, B., Dendi, D., & Luiselli, L. 2024. SPECIES RICHNESS AND VARIATION IN THE COMMUNITY COMPOSITION OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN FOUR SITES OF THE DAHOMEY GAP IN BENIN, WEST AFRICA. European Journal of Ecology, 10, 49-62 - get paper here
  • Segniagbeto, G.H.; Dekawole, J.K.; Ketoh, G.K.; Dendi, D.; Luiselli, L. 2022. Herpetofaunal Diversity in a Dahomey Gap Savannah of Togo (West Africa): Effects of Seasons on the Populations of Amphibians and Reptiles. Diversity 14: 964 - 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
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  • Tolley, Krystal A; Graham J Alexander, Isabelle C Winder, Claire Dobson, Cara Hall, Axel Barlow, Elysha McBride, Jens Reissig, Jean-François Trape, Zoltan T Nagy, Catharine Wüster, Wolfgang Wüster 2025. Phylogeny and species delimitation in an iconic snake genus: the African mambas (Serpentes: Elapidae: Dendroaspis). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 204 (3): zlaf062, - get paper here
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
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  • 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
  • Ullenbruch, K.; Grell, O.; Böhme, W. 2010. Reptiles from southern Benin, West Africa, with the description of a new Hemidactylus (Gekkonidae), and a country-wide checklist. Bonn Zool. Bull. 57 (1): 31-54 - get paper here
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  • Werning, H. 2009. Das Serpentarium des Snakeparadise in Eschlikon in der Schweiz. Reptilia (Münster) 14 (79): 76-82 - get paper here
 
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