Bungarus sindanus

Bungarus sindanus, the Sind krait, is a species of krait, a venomous elapid snake found in India, Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Three subspecies are recognized. It can be confused with the common krait and even with the Indian rat snake.

Sind krait
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Bungarus
Species:
B. sindanus
Binomial name
Bungarus sindanus
Boulenger, 1897
Synonyms[1]
  • Bungarus walli
    Wall, 1907
  • Bungarus caeruleus sindanus
    — Klemmer, 1963

Description

The Sind krait is generally 1 m (3 ft) with some specimens as long as 1.8 m (6 ft). Their most visible feature is their narrow white bands, though the bands can be either yellow or grey depending on the color variation. The young have white spots on one-third of their body instead of bands (which develop at maturity). They have an egg-shaped head with a short snout, small eyes, upper lips either yellow or white and pointed tip tail.[2]Dorsal scales are smooth and glossy with the vertebral row enlarged and hexagonal. Dorsal scale count 19 ( 21 ) - 17 ( 19 ) - 17.

Behavior

Sind kraits are nocturnal & often get close to humans .[3][2] They are responsible for 40% of krait bites in Bangladesh

Distribution and habitat

Bungarus sindanus is found in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is recorded in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal (Jalpaiguri and Midnapur District), Rajasthan, and Gujarat in India. The geographic ranges of the subspecies are:

  • Bungarus sindanus razai Khan, 1985 - north Pakistan
  • Bungarus sindanus sindanus Boulenger, 1897 - southern Pakistan, adjacent India; type locality: Sindh, West Pakistan

Etymology

The subspecific name, walli, is in honor of British herpetologist Frank Wall, who named the taxon after himself, admitting that it was a "breach of ethics" to do so.[4][5]

References
  1. "Bungarus sindanus ". The Reptile Database. Reptile-database.org.
  2. "Snakes of Pakistan: Common Krait, Sindhi Krait, Northern Punjab Krait". Wildlifeofpakistan.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  3. "About SHE". She-india.org. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  4. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Bungarus sindanus walli, p. 79).
  5. Wall (1907).

Further reading
  • Boulenger GA (1897). "A new krait from Sind (Bungarus sindanus)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 11: 73–74.
  • Kuch, Ulrich (2004). Bungarus sindanus Boulenger, 1897, an addition to the venomous snake fauna of Afghanistan". Herpetozoa 16 (3/4): 171–173.
  • Vyas, Raju (1998). "Unusual marking pattern in krait Bungarus sindanus ". Cobra 32: 34–35.
  • Wall F (1907). "A new krait from Oudh (Bungarus walli)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 17: 155–157.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.