Genus/Species
Clinical entries
Species
- 1. Antaioserpens spp.
- 2. Aspidomorphus spp.
- 3. Brachyurophis spp.
- 4. Cacophis spp.
- 5. Cryptophis spp.
- 6. Demansia spp.
- 7. Denisonia spp.
- 8. Drysdalia spp.
- 9. Echiopsis curta
- 10. Elapognathus spp.
- 11. Furina spp.
- 12. Hemiaspis spp.
- 13. Loveridgelaps elapoides
- 14. Micropechis ikaheca
- 15. Narophis bimaculatus
- 16. Neelaps calonotus
- 17. Ogmodon vitianus
- 18. Parapistocalamus hedigeri
- 19. Parasuta spp.
- 20. Paroplocephalus atriceps
- 21. Rhinoplocephalus bicolor
- 22. Salomonelaps par
- 23. Simoselaps spp.
- 24. Suta spp.
- 25. Toxicocalamus spp.
- 26. Vermicella spp.
Former genus Unechis is integrated in the genus Suta
Former genus Glyphodon is integrated in the genus Furina, Cacophis respectively
Some species which wehre belonging to Suta are now put into the genus Parasuta
Most genera comprise only one or a few species. Brachyurophis comprises 8, Cryptophis 5, Demansia 15, Furina 5, Parasuta 6, Simoselaps 4, Suta 11, Toxicocalamus 24 and Vermicella 6 species.
Taxonomy
Common names
- 1. Burrowing snakes
- 2. Crowned snakes
- 3. Shovel-nosed snakes
- 4. Crowned sakes
- 6. Whip snakes
- 7. Banded snake, Ornamental snake
- 9. Bardick
- 10. Crowned snake
- 11. Naped snakes
- 12. Grey snake, Swamp snake
- 13. Solomon’s small-eyed snake
- 14. New Guinea small-eyed, Ikaheka snake
- 15. Black-naped burrowing snake, Western black-naped snake
- 16. Black striped burrowing snake, Western black striped snake
- 17. Fiji Cobra, Fijian ground snake
- 18. Bougainville coral snake, Hediger’s coral snake
- 20. Lake Cronin snake
- 21. Square nosed snake, Muller's snake
- 22. Solomons coral snake
- 23. Banded snakes, Burrowing snakes, Shovel-nosed snakes
- 25. Forest snakes
- 26. Bandy-bandy
Distribution
See link "Distribution" at the top of the page for detailed information.
Map 41 Micropechis ikaheca
Biology
The genera listed here comprise a group of mostly smaller Australian elapids. Demansia sp. and Mikropechis ikaheca are amongst the largest in this group, with a length of up to 2 m. Most of the other members of this group are rarely more than 60 cm long.
Most are nocturnal, in contrast to the medically more significant Australian elapids. Many of them are rarely seen. Some spend most of their time as burrowing snakes under the ground (Neelaps calonotus, Simoselaps sp., Vermicella sp. and Suta sp.).
Risk
Some species are considered potentially dangerous. According to Cogger (1987) the genera Cryptophis, Demansia, Denisonia, Echiopsis, Glyphodon, Hemiaspis and Suta can cause serious but not fatal envenoming. Nevertheless Furtado and Lester (1968) describe a single fatal case by Cryptophis nigrescens.
Micropechis ikaheca is known to have caused serious or even fatal envenomings in Papua New Guinea (Warrell et al. 1972).
Bites caused by Demansia psammophis are common, but generally have a mild course with minor local reactions.
The genera Cacophis, Drysdalia, Elapognathus, Furina, Neelaps, Rhinoplocephalus, Simoselaps and Vermicella are likely to cause asymptomatic or mild envenoming.
Literature (biological)
Cogger 1986, De Haas 1950, Hutchinson 1990, Keogh et al. 2000, McCoy 1980, O'Shea 1990, 1996, 2005, Shea and Scanlon 2007