Pseudonaja
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Pseudonaja is a genus of venomous elapid snakes native to Australia. Members are known commonly as brown snakes and are considered to be one of the most dangerous snakes in the country, even juveniles are capable of delivering a fatal envenomation to a human.
[edit] Species
- Dugite, Pseudonaja affinis
- Pseudonaja affinis affinis (Günther, 1872) - coastal Western Australia.
- Pseudonaja affinis exilis (Storr, 1989) - Western Australia and Rottnest Island.
- Pseudonaja affinis tanneri (Worrell, 1961) Western Australia, Boxer Island and other islands.
- Speckled Brown Snake or Spotted Brown Snake, Pseudonaja guttata (Parker, 1926) - Northern Territory, Queensland, and South Australia.
- Peninsula Brown Snake, Pseudonaja inframacula (Waite, 1925) - South Australia, Western Australia, Eyre Peninsula
- Ingram's Brown Snake, Pseudonaja ingrami (Boulenger, 1908) - Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.
- Ringed Brown Snake, Pseudonaja modesta (Günther, 1872) - New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.
- Gwardar or Western Brown Snake, Pseudonaja nuchalis (Günther, 1858) - New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia.
- Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) - New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and possibly Papua New Guinea.
[edit] Toxicity
Brown snakes are easily alarmed and may bite readily. Less than half of bites contain venom, and there are minimal effects at the bite site. If envenomed, the victim will collapse within an hour of the bite. The main effect of the venom is a coagulopathy which can be fatal. Renal damage may also rarely occur. [1]
Other clinical signs include: abdominal pain, breathing and swallowing difficulty, convulsions, ptosis, haemolysis, hypotension from depression of myocardial contractility, renal failure. Notably rhabdomyolysis is not a feature of envenomation by Brown snakes.
The Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) is the most toxic member of the genus and it is the sixth most toxic land snake in Australia.
[edit] References
- ^ Isbister, Geoff; et.al. (2006). "Snake Bite: Current Approach to Treatment". Australian Prescriber 29 (5): 125-129.
- Genus Pseudonaja at the EMBL Reptile Database
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