Demansia

Demansia is a genus of venomous snakes of the family Elapidae. Members of the genus are commonly known as whip snakes or whipsnakes, as are members of several other genera.

Demansia
Demansia psammophis,
yellow-faced whip snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Subfamily: Hydrophiinae
Genus: Demansia
Gray, 1842

Description

All species of the genus Demansia are gray, brown, gray-green, or beige, save for Demansia psammophis (yellow-faced whip snake), which may be cream-coloured. Whip snakes are long and slender. They have large eyes and relatively small heads that are only slightly wider than their bodies. All species in the genus Demansia are venomous.

Distribution

Whip snakes of the genus Demansia are found in Australia, Papua New Guinea in the area around Port Moresby, and nearby islands.

Diet

Demansia whip snakes eat mainly lizards. These whipsnakes are diurnal (active in the day), and use their keen eyesight to hunt. The prey dies quickly from the effects of the snake's venom.

Species

The following 14 species are recognized as being valid.[1]

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Demansia.

See also

References
  1. Genus Demansia at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading
  • Gray JE (1842). "Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian Reptiles and Batrachians". Zoological Miscellany 2: 51-57. (Demansia, new genus, p. 54).


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