Thrasops jacksonii, known commonly as the black tree snake or Jackson's black tree snake, is a species of primarily arboreal and diurnal snake in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae. The species is native to Central Africa, and has been discovered to possess a hemorrhagic venom, which it delivers to prey through moderately-sized fangs.
Geographic range T. jacksonii is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.
Habitat The preferred natural habitats of T. jacksonii are forest and savanna, at altitudes of .
Description T. jacksonii may attain a total length (including tail) of about .Schmidt KP (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". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 49 (1): 1–146. (Thrasops jacksonii, pp. 85–87).
Behavior T. jacksonii is diurnal and arboreal, and has been found as high as in the canopy.
Diet A generalist, T. jacksonii preys upon frogs, arboreal lizards, birds and their eggs, and mammals.
Reproduction T. jacksonii is oviparous. Clutch size is 7–12 eggs.
Etymology The specific name, jacksonii, is in honor of English ornithologist Frederick John Jackson.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Thrasops jacksoni [sic]", p. 132).
References
Further reading Günther A (1895). "Notice of Reptiles and Batrachians collected in the Eastern Half of Tropical Africa". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Sixth Series 15: 523–529 + Plate XXI. (Thrasops Jacksonii, new species, pp. 528–529). Spawls S, Howell K, Hinkel H, Menegon M (2018). Field Guide to East African Reptiles, Second Edition. London: Bloomsbury Natural History. 624 pp. . (Thrasops jacksonii, p. 500).