Naja nigricollis from near Luanda Angola

[Warren Klein]

Some Naja nigricollis captured near Luanda Angola!





Naja nigricollis squirting its venom in defence!

In the blue!


Note beautiful salmon pink color of the ventral scales. There seem to be two varieties, some with the pink bellies and others with silvery black.

As with most cobras, Naja nigricollis is very opportunistic in its diet. The droppings of this specimen contained rodent fur, snake scales and beetle shells which indicate toads were also consumed!

Regards HH!

[Mongoose]

Oneday I shall go herp Angola.. Please do post pics of lizards and geckos too - Angola has some BIZARRE stuff! Ever seen any Anchieta chameleons?

[Xenior1976]

Very nice post, thanks for sharing.

I have 4 of these wonderfull creatures, all with a pink bellie.
I hope to add one with a white bellie some day.

Cheers, Ro.

[Bushviper]

Now those are pretty black snakes. Are they as common as the Mozmbique spitters in the areas that they occur?

[Warren Klein]

Mongoose : Sorry never seen any Anchieta chameleons, only found dilepis so far! The most "Bizarre" lizards I have seen in Angola are the Agama planiceps which have large canine like front teeth on the top and bottom jaw which are much larger than anything I have seen on agamas in SA. I have also observed males tail whiping like monitors when they fight. I will make a post of these at some point.

BV: In areas that they occur, they are one of the most common snakes (called Cushpedera) which locals espcially hate and as a result are frequently killed when they are seen!

[Rishaad]

Nice one man. Love the 7th pic btw.

[Viridovipera]

Wowowow. That is AWESOME. What a beautiful snake. I love seeing stuff from the wild on here.

So I've been trying to find a good characteristic to distinguish N. nigricolis and N. melanaleuca, does the (terrifyingly awesome) jet black head and eyes hold?

Such a beautiful snake.

-Alex

[s'mee]

Well, one will spray venom all over you, and the other one won't....

Naja melanoleuca has light coloured supralabials with dark edges and N nigricollis has uniformly dark supralabials.
If you get close enough to count scales ( which you probably shouldn't be doing if you can't distinguish the two species by sight) N melanoleuca has two supralabials touching the eye and N nigricollis has only one (the third) entering the eye and also a very large 4th supralabial scale.

[Viridovipera]

Well, one will spray venom all over you, and the other one won't....

Thus my question! The supralabials helps, thanks a lot. Variability in cobras makes them a tough bunch to pick out by sight, especially when spitters and non coexist so commonly. I shall be on the look out

[WW]

Sorry, but N. nigricollis does not have a particularly large 4th supralabial:



Head scalation characters that will distinguish them are:

Preoculars: N.n. 2, N.m. 1
Anterior temporals: N.n. 2, N.m. 1
Supralabials: N.n. 6, N.m. 7
6th supralabial very large and high in N.m., low in N.n.

Head coloration usually works, although eastern N. melanoleuca may lack obvious dark scale edges. If the head is all dark, it's definitely N. nigricollis, but some have lighter heads, particularly in Zambia, Tanzania and neighbouring areas. The same applies to the throat: if it is all dark, as in herphabitat's photos, then it's definitely N. nigricollis, but again, there are exceptions, particularly in parts of Zambia, Tanzania etc..
N. melanoleuca has a light throat followed by dark banding.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

WW

[Viridovipera]

Thanks Wolfgang. It seems that no matter which tropical country I go to herp there's always at least one species of spitters and they're always slightly tricky to tell apart by the untrained eye. With knowledge being power and all that jazz, I think I can go out and get some good shots of cobras in action.

Thanks for those awesome shots herphabitat, and thanks for your help on identifications again Wolfgang.

-Alex

[WW]

Thanks Wolfgang. It seems that no matter which tropical country I go to herp there's always at least one species of spitters and they're always slightly tricky to tell apart by the untrained eye. With knowledge being power and all that jazz, I think I can go out and get some good shots of cobras in action.

Thanks for those awesome shots herphabitat, and thanks for your help on identifications again Wolfgang.

-Alex

Happy herpin'

[alexander]

That first specimen has similar colouration to the one I found in Namibia. I was told it was likely to be a transitional form between woodi and nigricincta:

[WW]

That first specimen has similar colouration to the one I found in Namibia. I was told it was likely to be a transitional form between woodi and nigricincta:

Where in Namibia was this?

[alexander]

Near Mariental, a little south of the centre of Namibia