Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Suborder Serpentes Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Family Elapidae | |
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Similar Blue‑bellied black snake, Micropechis ikaheka, Pseudechis butleri, Collett's snake, Pseudechis | ||
Pseudechis papuanus, commonly known as the Papuan black snake, is a venomous snake of the family Elapidae native to New Guinea.
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Taxonomy
The Papuan black snake is one of several species in the genus Pseudechis commonly known as black snakes. A study of mitochondrial DNA showed the Papuan black snake to be the next closest relative to a pair of Australian species, Collett's Snake (P. collettii) and the blue-bellied black snake (P. guttatus), and is likely to have had its origins in Australia and diverged from a common ancestor in the Pliocene.
Description
Reaching around 2 m (7 ft) in length, it is a predominantly black snake coloured grey underneath.
Geographic range
The range is southern New Guinea, both in Papua New Guinea and West Papua province of Indonesia, as well as offshore islands. In Papua New Guinea, it has possibly already vanished from Port Moresby and Central Province and is declining in Western Province. It just enters Australian territory as it occurs on Saibai Island in far northern Torres Strait off the New Guinea coast.
Destruction of its habitat, killing of snakes by locals, and poisoning by the introduced cane toad have contributed to its decline.
Venom
The venom is predominantly neurotoxic in its effects, with muscle weakness and paralysis ensuing over 2 to 21 hours after being bitten. This can be life-threatening and intubation may be required. It is slightly more toxic than the equatorial spitting cobra (Naja sumatrana) and three times less toxic than that of the taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus). A postsynaptic neurotoxin isolated has been given the name of papuantoxin-1, and can be treated with CSL black snake antivenom (used for the king brown snake (Pseudechis australis)).
Although widely feared in Papua New Guinea's Central Province, it is responsible for only a small minority of snakebites, eclipsed by the more dangerous taipan. The Mekeo people know it as auguma, "to bite again", from its habit of repeatedly biting. Some local people in New Guinea believe it and the taipan to be opposite sexes of the same species. The Kiwai people believe the snake to be an agent of a magic-man known as Ove-devenor who sends it to kill enemies. People bitten will often seek out another magic-man instead of going to a hospital, thus dangerously delaying treatment.