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Dipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER, 1858

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Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Günther's Green Tree Snake 
SynonymDipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER 1858: 138
Dipsadoboa unicolor — LOVERIDGE 1936: 35
Dipsadoboa unicolor viridiventris LAURENT 1956
Dipsadoboa unicolor viridiventris — PITMAN 1974
Dipsadoboa unicolor — RÖDEL & MAHSBERG 2000
Dipsadoboa unicolor — BÖHME et al. 2011: 45
Dipsadoboa unicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 232
Dipsadoboa unicolor — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 530 
DistributionUganda, Rwanda, Burundi, N/E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Guinea (Conakry), Liberia, Tanzania, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Equatorial Guinea

Type locality: West Africa.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesType: BMNH 1946.1.4.84 (and possibly additional specimens). 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): A typical boigine snake genus, which is closely related to Crotaphopeltis. The most prominent characters separating these two genera are the well-developed venom gland, the higher number of ventrals and subcaudals, and the usually three pointed parasphenoid in Dipsadoboa, and the absence of gular shields in Crotaphopeltis. (Rasmussen 1979: 152)


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CommentDistribution: Not reported from Benin according to ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010, but possibly Benin (Hughes 2013). For a map with localities in Equatorial Guinea see SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS et al. 2022.

Habitat: forest floor. Semi-arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).

Type species: Dipsadoboa unicolor GÜNTHER 1858 is the type species of the genus Dipsadoboa GÜNTHER 1858.

Diet: Chameleons have been recorded in the diet of all other members of the D. werneri group (Rasmussen 1986; Haagner et al. 2000), and are plentiful in the forests of Mt Mabu (Branch & Tolley 2010; Branch et al. 2014) and Mt Ribáuè (Conradie et al. 2016). In contrast, frogs form the dominant diet of the D. aulica group (Stevens 1964; Broadley & Stevens 1971; Rasmussen 1989a).

Tables of scale counts etc across genus: Rasmussen 1993.

Key to species: Rasmussen 1993: 155

Groups: Rasmussen 1993 grouped the genus into 4 groups: the werneri group (werneri, shrevei), the aulica group (aulica, flavida), the duchesnei group (duchesnei, brevirostris), and the unicolor group (unicolor, isolepis, elongata). 
EtymologyNamed after the uniform green dorsal color. 
References
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  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • BRANCH, WILLIAM R.; JULIAN BAYLISS, GABRIELA B. BITTENCOURT-SILVA, WERNER CONRADIE, HANLIE M. ENGELBRECHT, SIMON P. LOADER, MICHELE MENEGON, CRISTÓVÃO NANVONAMUQUITXO, KRYSTAL A. TOLLEY 2019. A new species of tree snake (Dipsadoboa, Serpentes: Colubridae) from ‘sky island’ forests in northern Mozambique, with notes on other members of the Dipsadoboa werneri group. Zootaxa 4646 (3): 541–563 - get paper here
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  • SÁNCHEZ-VIALAS, A., CALVO-REVUELTA, M. & DE LA RIVA, I. 2022. Synopsis of the terrestrial Reptiles of Equatorial Guinea. Zootaxa 5202 (1): 1-197 - get paper here
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