Naja fuxi: A new species of Cobra from China.

Cobras, Naja spp., are a highly distinctive and widespread group of Venomous Snakes, responsible for many cases of Snake-bites in Humans across a wide geographical area every year, with the number of bites being particularly high in South and Southeast Asia and southern China. The toxins found within the venom of Cobras varies from species to species, with the effect that an antivenom developed to treat the bite of one species will not counteract the venom from the bite of another. Unfortunately, the taxonomy of Asian Cobras is still not fully understood, with many populations potentially assigned to the wrong species, or even to cryptic species (species which resemble other species upon physical examination, but which are genetically distinct).

All Asian Cobras were originally placed in the species Naja naja by Linnaeus in 1758, with multiple subspecies and colour variants recognised in the following years. Eventually, this proved to be unreliable, with the species being split into several new species from 1768 onwards. There are now twelve recognised species of Cobra in Asia, including two found in China.

The Monocled Cobra, Naja kaouthia, was first described by René-Primevère Lesson from Bengal (modern Bangladesh) in 1831. Populations of Cobras assigned to this species are currently found in northeastern India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, northern Malaysia, southern Vietnam, Thailand and southern China. However, these species vary greatly in their colouration, spitting behaviour, and even the composition of their venom, making it likely that not all these Cobras do in fact belong to the same species. In China this species is known from the south and southwestern parts of Yunnan, the southwestern part of Sichuan, Xizang (Tibet Autonomous Region), and Guangxi. 

The Chinese Cobra, Naja atra, is known from southern China, south of the Yangtze River, including Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Macao, Hong Kong, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou. It is also found in northern Vietnam. The Yunnan population of this species is known to be genetically distinct from other populations, including that from Zhoushan Island in Zhejiang Province, which is the population from which the species was first described. 

Thus, both populations of Cobras in Yunnan Province, appear to present taxonomic problems, and may not belong to the species to which they are currently assigned.

In a paper published in the journal Animals on 9 December 2022, Sheng‑Chao Shi of Guangxi Normal University, and the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Gernot Vogel of the Society for Southeast Asian Herpetology, Li Ding, also of the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Ding‑Qi Rao and Shuo Liu of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Liang Zhang of the Institute of Zoology of the Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Zheng‑Jun Wu, also of Guangxi Normal University, and Ze‑Ning Chen, again of Guangxi Normal University, and the Chengdu Institute of Biology, re-examine the distributions of Naja kaouthia and Naja atra in China and South and Southeast Asia, and describe a new species of Cobra from China.

The new species is named Naja fuxi, in reference to Fuxi (伏羲), an ancestral spirit in Chinese mythology, often depicted as a half-Man, half-Snake figure in a rearing Cobra posture. It is described from 34 specimens from Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, from populations previously assigned to Naja kaouthia.

Naja fuxi in life and habitats. (A), (B) Dorsolateral view and hood pattern of adult female paratype CIB DL2018081005 from Panzhihua, Sichuan, China; (C), (D) Dorsolateral and front view of an unvouchered adult from Jiangcheng, Pu’er, Yunnan, China; (E), (F), two adults from Wenshan, Yunnan, China; (G) Subtropical Forest at type locality Panzhihua, Sichuan, China; (H) Tropical monsoon forest and farmland at Jiangcheng, Pu’er, Yunnan, China. Sheng-Chao Shi, Li Ding & Liang Zhang in Shi et al. (2022).

The examined adult specimens of Naja fuxi ranged from 680 to 1165 mm in length, and can be distinguished from other Cobras by the presence of a series of well-spaced narrow crossbands along the length of the body and tail. These Snakes are mostly buff-coloured, and have 19-29 scale rows on the front part of their bodies, 19-27 on their mid-section, and 12-19 on the posterior part. The fangs are short, and not adapted to spitting.

Naja fuxi was found in tropical and subtropical areas at altitudes of between 1000 and 1400 m above sealevel. It favours gentle slopes, with open bush or forest edge environments. It is known to consume a wide range of prey, including Frogs, Snakes, Birds, and small Mammals. It sometimes enters settlements to take chicks, creating a potential for conflict with Humans, and records suggest it is the Snake responsible for most bites suffered by Humans in Xishuangbanna Prefecture.

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Warning issued to bathers in Western Cape, South Africa, after Yellow Bellied Sea Snake found on beach.

Environmental charity Ocean Pledge has  issued a warning to beachgoers in Western Cape Province, South Africa, after a highly venomous Yellow Bellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis platurus, was found on a beach at Fish Hoek, near Cape Town. Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes are not native to the Western Cape, but are sometimes carried there by the Agulhas Current, which runs southeastward along the eastern coast of South Africa, occasionally pushing packages of warm waters from the Indian Ocean into the South Atlantic. When this happens, it can carry organisms from the southern Indian Ocean, such as Sea Snakes, with it. Because such occurrences are rare antivenoms for Sea Snakes (which have a limited shelf life) are not kept in hospitals in the Western Cape, meaning that a bite from one of these venomous Snakes is likely to have severe, even fatal consequences. Sea Snake incursions into the Southern Atlantic will often involve muiltple Animals carried from the warm water around Madagascar and the Comoros Islands reaching the coast of the Western Cape, with such Snakes having been found as far north as the southern coast of Namibia.

 

A Yellow Bellied Sea Snake, Hydrophis platurus, on a beach in Costa Rica. Wikimedia Commons.

Sea Snakes, Hydrophiinae, are thought to have diverged from their nearest relatives, Australian Tiger Snakes of the genus Notechis, about 10 million years ago during the Late Miocene. They have become entirely marine in nature, bearing live young in the water, and most species are unable to survive on land for any length of time. Most Sea Snakes are entirely tropical in distribution, dwelling on Coral Reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but the Yellow Bellied Sea Snake has a broader distribution, and is able to survive in the cooler waters around New Zealand, Tasmania, and southern California. It is this environmental tolerance that enables them to be carried into the Southern Atlantic on occasion, although the waters are far to cold for them to survive for any length of time. However, one possible outcome of a warming global climate is that the waters of the Southern Atlantic become warm enough for Yellow Bellied Sea Snakes to survive there for at least part of the year, enabling them to enter the warmer waters of the Central Atlantic and Caribbean, where both marine life and Human populations would be naïve to them, and should they reach these waters they would be likely to have a significant ecological impact.

The Benguela and Aghulas currents around South Africa. Packages of warmer water from the Aghulas Current occasionally enter the South Atlantic and pass up the coast of the Western Cape, carrying with them exotic warm-water wildlife from the Indian Ocean, but such incursions are typically short-lived. Wikimedia Commons.

Anyone encountering a Sea Snake on a beach in the Western Cape is strongly advised not to touch it, even if it appears to be dead, and never to attempt to move it. Instead it is recomended that sightings of Sea Snakes oe exotic marine life be reported to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town be contacted, as they will be capable of sending experts to help or recover the Animal.

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Indian schoolgirl dies after being bitten by Cobra.

A schoolgirl has died after being bitten by a Cobra in Tamil Nadu State, India, on Sunday 15 September 2019. The girl, identified as R Varsha, 14,  was bitten by the Snake while sleeping in a hostel attached to a government-aided school in the city of Dindigul. She alerted her friends to the incident after feeling the bite and beginning to feel ill, but rapidly went into convulsions and died on the way to hospital. A Cobra was later found in the room and killed.

A fatal Snake bite attributed to a 'Cobra' in India (the term Cobra is used to describe a variety of Snakes in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, not all of which are closely related) will almost certainly have been the work of an Indian Cobra, Naja naja, an Elapid Snake which is one of four species of Snakes that are responsible for almost all Human fatalities in South Asia, along with the Common Krait, Bungarus caeruleus, the Russell's Viper, Daboia russelii, and the Indian Saw-scaled Viper, Echis carinatus. About 30% of Indian Cobra bites are fatal, falling to about 9% with prompt medical treatment. The species does not intentionally target Humans, which it is far too small to consume, reaching a maximum size of about 1.5 m (larger specimens have been recorded from Sri Lanka). However the species does regularly enter Human dwellings in pursuit of small Rodents (it's main prey), and will sometimes attempt to nest in Human bedcloths, which can have fatal consequences if Snakes are disturbed and lash out.

An Indian Cobra, Naja naja. Snake Facts.

Although not considered to be endangered, Indian Cobras are protected by law in India. This is due to their former use in street entertainment by Snake charmers, and in staged Mongoose fights, both of which are now illegal as they are considered to be cruel. The species is also listed under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), although this is due to the resemblance of its skin to that of more endangered species.

The King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah, is also present in Tamil Nadu, and is certainly capable of delivering a fatal bite. However King Cobras are essentially a woodland species, and tend to avoid Humans and Human structures. Even when provoked King Cobras tend to try to escape before biting, and will typically give an impressive display to try to frighten away aggressors before actually attacking. As such almost all people bitten by King Cobras are professional Snake handlers, although the fatality rate among those bitten can be as high as 50%, requiring that the species be treated with considerable respect.

A King Cobra, Ophiophagus hannah. World Atlas.

King Cobras are considered to be Vulnerable under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, due to habitat loss and hunting for their skins (King Cobras can reach almost six metres in length, massive for a venomous Snake, and therefore produce a large and desirable skin). They are strongly protected in India, and killing one can result in a six year prison sentence.

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Queensland man dies after being bitten by Eastern Brown Snake.

A man has died in Townsville, Queensland, after being bitten by an Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis, on Thursday 19 April 2018. The as yet un-named 46-year-old man approached neighbours in the Deeragun suburb of the city slightly after five o'clock local time, and asked if they could identify a Snake that had bitten him on the hand. Shortly afterwards he collapsed, and despite prompt CPR from neighbours, was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived on the scene. Snake catchers later removed a 1.5 m Eastern Brown Snake from his property. 

An Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis. Australian Reptile Park.

The Eastern Brown Snake is a type of Elapid (Snakes with hollow fixed fangs through which venom is injected), considered to be the world's second most deadly terrestrial Snake, after the Inland Taipan, Oxyuranus microlepidotus, another Australian native. It is variable in colour, ranging through cream to orange-brown to almost black, and can reach about 2 m in length. The species is found across eastern and central Australia, and well as in southern parts of Papua New Guinea. Eastern Brown Snakes are highly active daytime predators, and can react aggressively if they are confronted or feel trapped, though if possible they will generally try to withdraw or hide before attacking. They occur naturally in a wide range of habitats, and are able to survive in most man-made environments, making them of particular risk to Humans, though all attacks on us are defensively, their natural prey being small Mammals, Birds, Frogs, Lizards and other Snakes.

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Toxicocalamus ernstmayri: A new species of Worm-eating Snake from the Star Mountains of Papua New Guinea.

Worm-eating Snakes, Toxicocalamus, are Elapid Snakes known from Papua New Guinea and some nearby island groups. They are burrowing Snakes, which get their name from their habit of eating Oligochaete Earthworms. There are currently eleven described species, though this is thought to be an underestimation, with the most numerous species currently described, Toxicocalamus loriae, thought likely to be a cluster of similar species and other unknown species likely to be dwelling in underexplored areas of Papua New Guinea.

In a paper published in the Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology on 26 July 2015, Mark O'Shea of the West Midland Safari Park and the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Wolverhampton, Fred Parker of Townsville in Queensland, Australia and Hinrich Kaiser of the Department of Biology at Victor Valley College and the Department of Vertebrate Zoology at the National Museum of Natural History, describe a new species of Worm-Eating Snake from the Star Mountains in Western Province, Papua New Guinea.

The new species is named Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, in honour of the ornithologist and evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr, It is described from a single specimen killed by a local resident at Wangbin village in the Star Mountains in December 1969 and subsequently obtained by Fred Parker on behalf of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. The specimen was originally described as a specimen of Micropechis ikaheka, the New Guinea Small Eyed Snake, but re-examination of the specimen revealed it to be a previously unknown species of Toxicocalamus. The specimen is female, and larger than any previously described species in the genus, at 120 cm, and has a distinctive pattern of scales (usually a reliable way to identify species of Snakes). It was blackish in life with bright yellow markings, but has faded to a dull brown colour in preservative since death.

Toxicocalamus ernstmayri in (A) dorsal and (B) ventral view. Scale bar is 5 cm. O'Shea et al. (2015).

The discovery that the specimen is a Worm-eating Snake helps to shed some light upon the diet of the group. Most members of the genus are quite small, but the largest members, like Toxicocalamus ernstmayri, can exceed a meter in length, and a diet of Earthworms seems highly unlikely for such large snakes, particularly as they are highly venomous and apparently would be more than capable of subduing small Vertebrate prey. However no member of the genus has ever been found with a vertebrate among its stomach contents, and captive Worm-eating Snakes have refused all food other than Earthworms.

The single specimen of Toxicocalamus ernstmayri was examined for stomach contents when it was first obtained, with one Earthworm and one parasitic Nematode being found. As this is the largest Worm-eating Snake specimen known to have been examined, this finding strongly supports the theory that despite all members of the genus rely almost entirely on a diet of Earthworms.

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Acanthophis cryptamydros: A new species of Death Adder from the Kimberly Region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Death Adders, Acanthophis spp., are Australian Snakes closely resembling the Old World Vipers, though they are Elapid Snakes more closely related to Cobras and Sea Snakes. The taxonomy of the group is poorly understood, with the genus currently divided into several widely distributed and highly variable species, a classification system thought unlikely to be accurate by Herpetologists (scientists that study Amphibians and Reptiles) specializing in the group.

In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 28 August 2015, Simon Maddock of the Department of Life Sciences at The Natural History Museum, the Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment at University College London and the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory at Bangor University, Ryan Ellis, Paul Doughty and Lawrence Smith of the Department of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum and Wolfgang Wüster, also of the Molecular Ecology and Fisheries Genetics Laboratory at Bangor University describe a new species of Death Adder from the Kimberly Region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

The new species is named Acanthophis cryptamydros, meaning hidden and indistinct. The species is described from a population previously assigned to the Northern Death Adder, Acanthophis praelongus, but shown by a genetic survey to be a distinct species more closely related to the Desert Death Adder Acanthophis pyrrhus.

Acanthophis cryptamydros in life. Ryan Ellis in Maddock et al. (2015).

Acanthophis Pyrrhus is an orange brown Snake with darker bands averaging 503 mm in length for males and 549 mm in length for females. It was found living on the Kimberly region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, between Wotjulum to the west and Kununurra in the east, as well as some offshore islands including Koolan, Bigge, Boongaree, Wulalam, and an unnamed island in Talbot Bay. It was found dwelling on or close to sandstone outcrops in open savannah woodland, and appears to eat a range of small vertebrates including Lizards, Frogs, Birds and Mammals. Other species of Death Adder have been shown to be susceptible to toxins produced by the introduced Cane Toad, Rhinella marina, and this species is presumed to also be at risk as the Toads continue to move west across the Kimberly region.

Habitat of Acanthophis cryptamydros at Theda Station in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Ryan Ellis in Maddock et al. (2015).

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