You are here » home search results Toxicodryas blandingii

Toxicodryas blandingii (HALLOWELL, 1844)

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Toxicodryas blandingii?

Add your own observation of
Toxicodryas blandingii »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaColubridae, Colubrinae, Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Blandings Tree Snake 
SynonymDipsas Blandingii HALLOWELL 1844: 170
Triglyphodon fuscum DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854
Dipsas Blandingii — HALLOWELL 1854: 100
Dipsas Fischeri JAN in DUMÉRIL 1859: 212
Triglyphodon fuscum var. obscurum DUMÉRIL 1861
Dipsas fasciata FISCHER 1856: 84 (fide HALLERMANN 1998: 202)
Disas valida FISCHER 1856: 87
Dipsas globiceps FISCHER 1856: 89
Toxicodryas blandingii — HALLOWELL 1857: 60
Dipsas regalis JAN 1871: 3
Dipsas globiceps var. tumboensis MÜLLER 1885: 688
Dipsadomorphus blandingii — WERNER 1899
Dipsadomorphus blandingii — STERNFELD 1917
Boiga blandingii — SCHMIDT 1923: 103
Boiga blandingii — MENZIES 1966
Boiga blandingii — PITMAN 1974
Boiga blandingii — RASMUSSEN 1979
Boiga blandingi subfulva STUCKI-STIRN 1979: 381
Toxicodryas blandingii — MEIRTE 1992: 110
Toxicodryas blandingii — TRAPE & ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995: 40
Boiga blandingii — BROADLEY 1998
Toxicodryas blandingii — RÖDEL et al. 1999
Boiga blandingii — HUGHES 2000
Boiga blandingii — GOSSMANN et al. 2002
Toxycodryas [sic] blandingii — TRAPE & MANÉ 2002
Boiga blandingii — PAUWELS et al. 2004
Toxicodryas blandingii — TRAPE & MANÉ 2006
Toxicodryas blandingii — CHIRIO & LEBRETON 2007
Toxicodryas blandingii — ULLENBRUCH et al. 2010
Boiga blandingii — SEGNIAGBETO et al. 2012
Toxicodryas blandingii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 733
Boiga blandingii — CARLINO & PAUWELS 2015
Toxicodryas blandingii — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 511
Toxicodryas blandingii — GREENBAUM et al. 2021 
DistributionW Kenya, Uganda, Republic of South Sudan (RSS), Angola, Gabon,
Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia,
Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea (Conakry), Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), Congo (Brazzaville), Zambia

Type locality: "Liberia, West Africa."  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ANSP 10083 (fide Greenbaum et al. 2021, although reported as lost by previous authors), a 1670 mm specimen (Blanding) (fide V. Wallach, pers. comm.) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Toxicodryas blandingii, as recognized herein, is restricted to West Africa and west-central Africa (west of the confluence of the Congo and Ubangi rivers), defined by the following combination of characters: maximum SVL > 1 meter (vs. maximum SVL < 1 meter in T. pulverulenta and T. adamanteus sp. nov.); DSRN 23–25 (vs. 19–21 in T. pulverulenta and 18–23 in T. adamanteus sp. nov.); DSRM 21–25 (vs. 19–21 in T. pulverulenta and 18–21 in T. adamanteus sp. nov.); cloacal plate usually divided (vs. divided or undivided in T. vexator sp. nov., and always undivided in T. pulverulenta and T. adamanteus sp. nov.); adult males glossy or velvety black with a yellow venter, and adult females light brown, gray, or yellowish-brown with light-brown or cream cross-bars on the flanks, with yellowish-brown venters (vs. both sexes brown to pink with darker cross-bars that often enclose a whitish spot, and the dorsum and venter sprinkled with fine dark brown or black spots in T. pulverulenta and T. adamanteus sp. nov.); hemipenis relatively short and massive (i.e., broad), proximal third covered with spines, distal two-thirds dimpled with a flattened apex (vs. relatively long with long spines mid-way along the shaft that decrease in size towards the apex and base, and with a domed apex in T. pulverulenta and T. adamanteus sp. nov.); venom toxicity LD50 = 2.85–3.55 mg/kg in mice (vs. venom toxicity LD50 = 4.88 mg/kg in mice for T. vexator sp. nov.) (Greenbaum et al. 2021).


Additional details (10312 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentVenomous!

Sexual dimorphism: This species is highly sexually dimorphic, with blotchy brown females and subadults, and black and yellow phase adult males.

Similar species: Pseudohaje goldii (similar to adult males), T. vexator Greenbaum et al. 2021.

RASMUSSEN (cited as “pers. comm.” in GOSSMANN et al.) states that there are no constant differences between African and Asian Boiga species.

Types: The types of Dipsas valida and Dipsas globiceps appear to be destroyed accodring to J. Hallermann (pers. comm.). The type locality of D. valida is “Edina (Grand Basso County, West Africa)”.

Type species: Dipsas Blandingii HALLOWELL 1844: 170 is the type species of the genus Toxicodryas HALLOWELL 1857.

Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018). 
EtymologyNamed after Dr. William Blanding (1772-1857), American naturalist and a friend of Hallowell.

The genus was named after Greek toxin = poison, and ‐Dryas (noun, Δρῠᾰ́ς, meaning “tree nymph”). 
References
  • Barnett, Linda K. & Emms, Craig 2005. Common reptiles of The Gambia. Rare Repro, Hailsham, East Sussex, 24 pp.
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - 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
  • Böhme, Wolfgang; Eberhard Fischer & Harald Hinkel 2023. Reptilien aus dem Irangi Forest, Provinz Kivu-Süd, Demokratische Republik Kongo. Sauria 45 (4): 29
  • Briscoe, M.S. 1949. Notes on Snakes Collected in Liberia. Copeia 1949 (1): 16-18 - get paper here
  • 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]
  • Broadley, Donald G. and F. P. D. Cotterill. 2004. The reptiles of southeast Katanga, an overlooked 'hot spot'. [Congo]. African Journal of Herpetology 53 (1): 35-61. - get paper here
  • Carlino, P. & Pauwels, O.S.G. 2015. An Updated Reptile List of Ivindo National Park, the Herpetofaunal Hotspot of Gabon. Bull. Chicago Herp. Soc. 50(3): 25-39 - 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
  • Duméril, A.H.A. 1859. Reptiles et Poissons de l’Afrique occidentale. Etude precedee de considerations generales sur leur distri- bution geographique. Archives du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris 10: 137–240 [1858–1861] - get paper here
  • Ernst R, Lautenschläger T, Branquima MF, Hölting M 2020. At the edge of extinction: a first herpetological assessment of the proposed Serra do Pingano Rainforest National Park in Uíge Province, northern Angola. Zoosystematics and Evolution 96(1): 237-262 - get paper here
  • Fischer, J.G. 1856. Neue Schlangen des Hamburgischen Naturhistorischen Museums. Abhandl. Nat. Ver. Hamburg 3 (4): 79-116 - get paper here
  • Gossmann, V.; Lötters, S.; Obame, F. & Böhme, W. 2002. Zur Herpetofauna Gabuns. Teil II: Kommentierte Artenliste der gefundenen Reptilien, Bemerkungen zur Artenvielfalt. Herpetofauna 24 (136): 19-33 - get paper here
  • Greenbaum, E., Allen, K. E., Vaughan, E. R., Pauwels, O. S., Wallach, V. A. N., Kusamba, C., ... & Brown, R. M. 2021. Night stalkers from above: A monograph of Toxicodryas tree snakes (Squamata: Colubridae) with descriptions of two new cryptic species from Central Africa. Zootaxa 4965 (1): 1-44 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 1998. Annotated catalogue of the type specimens of the herpetological collection in the Zoological Museum of the University of Hamburg. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst 95: 197-223.
  • Hallowell, E. 1844. Description of new species of African reptiles. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. 1844: 169-172 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Hallowell,E. 1857. Notes of a collection of reptiles from the Gaboon country, West Africa, recently presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Dr. Herny A. Ford. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 9: 48-72 - 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
  • Hoogmoed, M.S. 1979. Herpetologische waarnemingen in Ghana [part 1 - introduction]. Lacerta 37 (10-11): 164-168 - get paper here
  • Hughes, B. 2013. Snakes of Bénin, West Africa. Bull. Soc. Herp. France 144: 101-159
  • Hughes, Barry 2000. Polymorphism, sex, size and other aspects of the African snake, Boiga blandingi (Hallowell, 1844). Herpetological Bulletin (74): 8-12 - get paper here
  • JACOBSEN, N.H.G. 2009. A contribution to the herpetofauna of the Passendro Area, Central African Republic. African Herp News (47): 2-20 - get paper here
  • Knoepffler, L.-P. 1966. Faune de Gabon (amphibiens et reptiles), I. Ophidiens de l’Ogooué-Ivindo et du Woleu N’tem. Biologia Gabonica II (1): 3-23
  • Knox, Andrew and Kate Jackson 2010. Ecological and phylogenetic influences on maxillary dentition in snakes. Phyllomedusa 9 (2): 121-131 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1938. On a collection of reptiles and amphibians from Liberia. Proc. New England Zool. Club 17: 49-74
  • Loveridge, A. 1956. On snakes collected in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by J.S. Owen, Esq. Sudan Notes Rec. 36: 37-56 [1955]
  • Marques, Mariana P.; Luis M. P. Ceríaco , David C. Blackburn , and Aaron M. Bauer 2018. Diversity and Distribution of the Amphibians and Terrestrial Reptiles of Angola -- Atlas of Historical and Bibliographic Records (1840–2017). Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (Ser. 4) 65: 1-501 (Supplement II)
  • Mavoungou, L. B., Jackson, K., & Goma-Tchimbakala, J. 2024. Snake species assemblages across habitat types in four departments of the Republic of Congo, with emphasis on medically-relevant venomous species. Heliyon, e33583 - get paper here
  • Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Living snakes of the world in color. Sterling Publ. Co., hic., New York, NY: 480 pp.
  • Meirte, D. 1992. Clés de détermination des serpents d'Afrique. Museum Royal d'Afrique Centrale, Tervuren Belgique Annual Series Octavo Science Zoologique 267:1-152
  • Menzies, J.I. 1966. The snakes of Sierra Leone. Copeia 1966 (2): 169-179. - get paper here
  • Müller,F. 1885. Vierter Nachtrag zum Katalog der herpetologischen Sammlung des Basler Museums. Verh. naturf. Ges. Basel 7: 668-717 - get paper here
  • Nagy, Zoltán T.; Zacharie Chifundera Kusamba, Guy-Crispin Gembu Tungaluna, Albert Lotana Lokasola, Jonathan Kolby and Jos Kielgast. 2011. Foraging acrobatics of Toxicodryas blandingii in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Herpetology Notes 4: 91-92. - get paper here
  • Orlov, Nikolai L. and Sergei A. Ryabov 2002. A new species of the genus Boiga (Serpentes, Colubridae, Colubrinae) from Tanahjampea Island and description of "black form" of Boiga cynodon Complex from Sumatra (Indonesia). Russ. J. Herpetol. 9 (1): 33-56 - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2005. Venomous Snakes of the World. Princeton University Press, 160 pp. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • Pauwels O. S.G., Carlino P., Chirio L., Daversa D.R., Lips J., Oslisly Richard, Testa O. 2019. Amphibians and reptiles found in caves in Gabon, western Equatorial Africa. Cave and Karst Science, 46 (1): 3-12 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vande Weghe, J.P. 2008. Les reptiles du Gabon. Smithsonian Institution, Washington: 272 pp. - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G. & Vogel, G. 2011. Ein Fall von Thanatose (Totstellreflex) bei Boiga blandingii (Squamata, Serpentes, Colubridae) in Gabun. Elaphe 19 (4): 24-25 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G.; Kamdem Toham, A. & Chimsunchart, C. 2002. Recherches sur l’herpétofaune du Massif du Chaillu, Gabon. Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique (Biologie) 72: 47-57 - get paper here
  • Pauwels, O.S.G.; William R. Branch and Marius Burger 2004. REPTILES OF LOANGO NATIONAL PARK, OGOOUÉ-MARITIME PROVINCE, SOUTH-WESTERN GABON. Hamadryad 29 (1): 115 – 127 - 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
  • Pitman,C.R.S. 1974. A guide to the snakes of Uganda. Codicote, Wheldon & Wesley, L., 290 pp.
  • Rasmussen, Jens B. 1979. An intergeneric analysis of some boigine snakes - Bogert's (1940) group XIII and XIV (Boiginae, Serpentes). Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Dansk Naturhistorisk Forening 141: 97-155
  • Rödel M O; Mahsberg D 2000. Vorläufige Liste der Schlangen des Tai-Nationalparks/Elfenbeinküste und angrenzender Gebiete. Salamandra 36 (1): 25-38 - 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
  • 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
  • Schmidt, K. P. 1923. Contributions to the herpetology of the Belgian Congo based on the collection of the American Museum Congo Expedition, 1909-1915. Part II. Snakes, with field notes by Herbert Lang and James P. Chapin. Bull. Amer. Mus. nat. Hist. 49 (1): 1-146 - 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
  • 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
  • Sternfeld, R. 1917. Reptilia und Amphibia. In: Schubotz, H. (Hrsg.): Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Zweiten Deutschen Zentral-Afrika-Expedition, 1910-1911 unter Führung Adolph Friedrichs, Herzog zu Mecklenburg. Leipzig: Klinkhardt & Biermann, [Band] 1, Zoologie, Lieferung 11; S. 407-510. - get paper here
  • Taylor, Edward H.;Weyer, Dora 1958. Report on a collection of amphibians and reptiles from Harbel, Republic of Liberia. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (14): 1191-1229 - 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, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2002. Les serpents du Sénégal: liste commentée des espèces. Bull. Soc. Pathol. Exot. 95 (3): 148-150
  • Trape, J.-F. & Mané, Y. 2006. Guide des serpents d’Afrique occidentale. Savane et désert. [Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger]. IRD Editions, Paris, 226 pp. - get paper here
  • Trape, J.F. & R. ROUX-ESTÈVE 1995. Les serpents du Congo: liste commentée et clé de détermination. Journal of African Zoology 109 (1): 31-50
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Werner, F. 1899. Ueber Reptilien und Batrachier aus Togoland, Kamerun und Deutsch-Neu-Guinea grösstentheils aus dem k. Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 49: 132-157 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Toxicodryas&species=blandingii

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator