Toxicodryas blandingii

Toxicodryas blandingii, commonly known as **Blanding's cat snake** and **Blanding's tree snake**, is a species of rear-fanged venomous snake of the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Toxicodryas blandingii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Genus:	Toxicodryas
Species:	T. blandingii
Binomial name
Toxicodryas blandingii (Hallowell, 1844)
Synonyms[2]
Dipsas blandingii Hallowell, 1844 Toxicodryas blandingii Hallowell, 1857 Dipsadomorphus blandingii F. Werner, 1899 Boiga blandingii Schmidt, 1923 Toxicodryas blandingii Wallach et al., 2014

Etymology

The specific name, blandingii, is in honor of William Blanding (1772–1857), an American physician and naturalist.^[3]

Geographic range

T. blandingii is found in Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.^[2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of T. blandingii are forest and savanna, at altitudes from sea level to 2,200 m (7,200 ft). However, it is also found in gardens, parks, and in and around houses.^[1]

Description

T. blandingii is a long and slender species. The longest specimen measured by Boulenger (1896) had a total length of 2.2 m (7.2 ft), including a tail 0.5 m (1.6 ft) long.

Diet

T. blandingii preys upon lizards including dwarf chameleons, small mammals including bats, and birds.^[1]

Reproduction

T. blandingii is oviparous.^[2] Clutch size is 7–14 eggs.^[1]