You are here » home › advanced search › Lycodonomorphus bicolor

Lycodonomorphus bicolor (GÜNTHER, 1893)

IUCN Red List - Lycodonomorphus bicolor - Least Concern, LC
iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Lycodonomorphus bicolor?

Add your own observation of
Lycodonomorphus bicolor »

We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaLamprophiidae (Boaedontini), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Tanganyika (White-bellied) Water Snake 
SynonymGlypholycus bicolor GÜNTHER 1893: 629
Nerophidion hypsirhinoides WERNER 1924: 54 (fide SMITH 1928)
Glypholycus bicolor — LOVERIDGE 1937: 489
Lycodonomorphus bicolor — LOVERIDGE 1958: 9
Lycodonomorphus bicolor — BROADLEY 1998
Lycodonomorphus bicolor — BROADLEY et al. 2003: 132
Lycodonomorphus bicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 405
Lycodonomorphus bicolor — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 389 
DistributionE/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), W Tanzania (Shores of Lake Tanganyika), Zambia, Rwanda

Type locality: Lake Tanganyika.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesTypes: BMNH 1946.1.7.81-86 (and possibly additional specimens). 
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 2194 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy partly after Wallach 1988, Amphibia-Reptilia 9: 62. Chifundera 1990 gave Laurent 1950 as first describer.

Diet: mostly fish 
EtymologyNamed after Latin bicolor, of two colors. 
References
  • 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, 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]
  • 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
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1893. nan Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1893: 629 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, Arthur 1937. Scientific Results of an Expedition to Rain Forest Regions in Eastern Africa. IX. Zoogeography and Itinerary. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 79 (9): 481-541. - get paper here
  • Loveridge,A. 1958. Revision of five african snake genera. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 119: 1-198 (141) - get paper here
  • Madsen, T. & M. Osterkamp 1982. Notes on the biology of the fish-eating snake Lycodonomorphus bicolor in Lake Tanganyika Journal of Herpetology 16 (2): 185-188. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pietersen, Darren, Verburgt, Luke & Davies, John 2021. Snakes and other reptiles of Zambia and Malawi. Struik Nature / Penguin Random House South Africa, 376 pp., ISBN 9781775847373
  • Smith, M.A. 1928. The status of some recently described genera and species of snakes. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (10) 1: 494-496 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Tiutenko, A., A. Maliuk & C. Koch 2025. Generic affinities of African house snakes revised: a new genus for Lamprophis inornatus (Serpentes: Lamprophiidae: Lamprophiinae: Boaedontini). Salamandra 61 (2): 215-239
  • Trape, J.-F. 2023. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale, centrale et d’Afrique du Nord. IRD Éditions, Marseille, 896 pp.
  • 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.
  • Wallach,V. 1988. Status and redescription of the genus Padangia Werner, with comparative visceral data on Collorhabdium Smedley and other genera (Serpentes: Colubridae). Amphibia-Reptilia 9: 61-76 - get paper here
  • Werner, F. 1924. Neue oder wenig bekannte Schlangen aus dem Naturhistorischen Staatsmuseum in Wien. l. Teil. Sitzungsb. Ber. Akad. Wiss., Wien, Abt. l, 133: 29 - 56 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator