Sympatric occurrence of three colour morphs of the Common Egg-eater Dasypeltis scabra (Linnaeus, 1758) (Squamata: Colubridae) in central South Africa

We report on the sympatric occurrence of three colour pattern morphs of the Common Egg-eater Dasypeltis scabra at a single locality in the northern Free State Province, central South Africa: typically patterned morph (grey-brown with dark brown vertebral saddles and lateral bars), ‘plain’ morph (brown with a dark vertebral stripe) and intermediate morph (brown, weakly and partially patterned with darker markings). In South Africa, patterned and ‘plain’ morphs are known to occur sympatrically in Highveld grassland areas in the central and northern Free State, as well as southern Gauteng Province. The intermediate morph reported on here has not been recorded previously.