Blue-bellied black snake

The blue-bellied black snake (Pseudechis guttatus), also known commonly as the spotted black snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to Australia.

Blue-bellied black snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Pseudechis
Species:
P. guttatus
Binomial name
Pseudechis guttatus
De Vis, 1905
Synonyms[2]
  • Pseudechis guttata
    De Vis, 1905
  • Pseudechis guttatus
    — Cogger, 1983

Geographic range

P. guttatus is endemic to the inland areas of south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of P. guttatus are grassland, shrubland, and savanna.[1]

Description

On average, P. guttatus grows to a total length (including tail) of 1.2 m (3.9 ft), but some specimens have been found to measure as long as 1.5 m (4.9 ft).[3]

Diet

P. guttatus is carnivorous. Its diet consists of frogs, lizards, and small mammals.[3]

Reproduction

P. guttatus, like most other snakes, is oviparous, laying 7–12 eggs during the breeding season.[3]

Venom

The average venom ejection of P. guttatus is unknown. When mice are bitten, the snake's venom is the second most toxic of all the Australian black snakes. It is naturally very shy, and will not bite unless provoked (by being stepped on by a boot, prodded by a stick, etc.). A human, if bitten, may suffer severe pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, diaphoresis and regional lymphadenopathy at the location of the bite, similar to a red-bellied black snake's bite symptoms.[4] Bites are infrequent. If bitten, tiger snake antivenom is the preferred treatment.[5]

References
  1. Hobson R, Wilson S, Sanderson C (2018). "Pseudechis guttatus ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T42493239A42493245. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T42493239A42493245.en. Downloaded on 10 February 2021.
  2. Species Pseudechis guttatus at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  3. http://www.ozanimals.com/Reptile/Spotted-Black-Snake/Pseudechis/guttatus.html
  4. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/186_01_010107/jan10788_fm.html
  5. http://www.avru.org/compendium/biogs/A000035b.htm

Further reading
  • Cogger HG (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. ISBN 978-0643100350.
  • De Vis CW (1905). "A New Genus of Lizards". Annals of the Queensland Museum 6: 46–52. (Pseudechis guttata, new species, pp. 49–50).
  • Wilson S, Swan G (2013). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Fourth Edition. Sydney: New Holland Publishers. 522 pp. ISBN 978-1921517280.



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