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Spotting

2 Species ID Suggestions

BenFenson
BenFenson 12 years ago
Black Mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
David129
David129 2 years ago
Black mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis Dendroaspis polylepis | The Reptile Database


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14 Comments

David129
David129 2 years ago

This is definitely Dendroaspis polylepis.

WildAdventress
WildAdventress 10 years ago

please add this awesome photo to this mission
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/2273...
thanks

WildAdventress
WildAdventress 10 years ago

this is def a black mamba :)

horsefly.gm
horsefly.gm 12 years ago

I sent the picture to the Dept of Enviromental Affairs & Tourism in Mpumalanga which is very near the Kruger National Park, where their snake expert identified it as a Black Mamba
It was well over 2 meters

It looks like a black house snake - Lamprophis inornatus.

dungeonmasterShu
dungeonmasterShu 12 years ago

nope... not sure about this one... not enough to work with.
Sorry horsefly & moralcoral

dungeonmasterShu
dungeonmasterShu 12 years ago

when all else fails... ask an expert.
i will mail this to my friend, he will most likely know!

dungeonmasterShu
dungeonmasterShu 12 years ago

The cleft chin is a bit of a clue for me...
been on that end of a mamba a couple of time to many!
I have seen Black Mamba's pale grey to almost black, their colors vary a great deal.

moralcoral
moralcoral 12 years ago

I did check the black mamba first but i think its to dark, the head is too broad and i has a definitive cleft chin while the mamba is more rounded, also i think it looks a bit fat?

dungeonmasterShu
dungeonmasterShu 12 years ago

More pics would definitely be useful... from this angle it could very well be a black mamba.
horsefly: how big was it?

This was the one i caught last week...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/760...

moralcoral
moralcoral 12 years ago

I thought it looked like a rat snake also epecially due to the white chin, but was having difficulty finshing species in south africa, the other species i though of was the African house snake which can come in black morphologies. To me it could be Black, Brown or Dark grey?

SeanWeekly
SeanWeekly 12 years ago

It looks very much like a black Rat Snake but these only come from America so im not sure...

SeanWeekly
SeanWeekly 12 years ago

MoralCoral does this look black or brown to you?

moralcoral
moralcoral 12 years ago

Did you get any other pictures or notice any markings? The head looks very Boa-esk! Because its dark and youve obviously used a flash i think its dulled out a lot of key id features.

horsefly.gm
Spotted by
horsefly.gm

Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa

Spotted on Oct 25, 2011
Submitted on Oct 25, 2011

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