The eastern green mamba (Dendroaspis angusticeps) is a highly venomous snake species of the mamba genus Dendroaspis native to the coastal regions of southern East Africa. Described by Scottish surgeon and zoologist Andrew Smith in 1849, it has a slender build with a bright green back and green-yellow ventral scales. Adult females average around in length, and males are slightly smaller. A shy and elusive species, the eastern green mamba is rarely seen. This elusiveness is usually attributed to its arboreal habitat and green colouration, which acts as camouflage in its natural environment. It has also been observed to use ambush predation, like many vipers, contrary to the active foraging style typical of other elapid snakes. It preys on birds, eggs, bats, and rodents such as mice, rats, and gerbils. Its venom consists of both neurotoxins and cardiotoxins. Symptoms of envenomation include swelling of the injection site, dizziness, and nausea, accompanied by difficulty breathing and swallowing, irregular heartbeat, and convulsions progressing to respiratory paralysis. Bites that result in severe envenomation can quickly be fatal. Taxonomy The eastern green mamba was first described as Naja angusticeps by Andrew Smith, a Scottish surgeon and zoologist, in 1849, who reported it from Natal and east to Maputo Bay. The specific name angusticeps is derived from the Latin word angustus, "narrow", and ceps, an abbreviated form of caput ("head") when used in a compound word. The German-British zoologist Albert Günther described Dendroaspis intermedius from the Zambezi River in northern Mozambique in 1865. This was subsequently synonymised with D. angusticeps. In 1896, the Belgian-British zoologist George Albert Boulenger combined the species Dendroaspis angusticeps with the black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis), a lumping diagnosis that remained in force until 1946, when the South African herpetologist Vivian FitzSimons published a paper after examining approximately 50 eastern green mamba and 85 black mamba specimens. He concluded that the differences in build, scalation, colouration and behaviour warranted splitting them into separate species. The British biologist Arthur Loveridge augmented FitzSimons' work with material from outside South Africa, noting some overlap in scalation but supporting the separation. A 2016 genetic analysis showed the eastern green and black mambas are each others' closest relatives, their common ancestor diverging from a lineage that gave rise to Jameson's mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) and the western green mamba (Dendroaspis viridis), as shown in the cladogram below. As well as being called the eastern green mamba, the species