Mulga snake
| Mulga snake | ||||||||||||
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Mulga snake ( Pseudechis australis ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pseudechis australis | ||||||||||||
| ( JE Gray , 1842) |
The Mulga snake ( Pseudechis australis ), also called King Brown in English , is a snake from the family of poisonous snakes (Elapidae). Its English name often leads to misunderstandings, since the Mulga snake is not a brown snake , but a black otter and is related to the red-bellied black otter ( P. porphyriacus ), among other things .
features
The Mulga snake becomes 1.8 to 2.0 meters long, in exceptional cases 2.7 meters. Their body color is monochrome yellow to red-brown on the top, the underside is cream-colored and can be dotted orange. The head and trunk are not clearly separated from each other. The eyes are large and have a round pupil. The sheds are not keeled and are in 17 rows. It has six shields of the upper lip , 185 to 225 ventral shields, and 50 to 75 tail shields.
distribution and habitat
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With the exception of the eastern coastal regions and Tasmania , it is common throughout Australia and on Melville Island . She lives mainly in dry areas.
Way of life
Mulga snakes are diurnal and nocturnal, in warm weather only nocturnal. They feed on small mammals, birds, lizards and other snakes, including fellow species. The mating season of the snake is from May to July. The eggs are laid after about 45 days and the young hatch at an incubation temperature of 26 to 30 ° C, after about 60 days.
Mulga snakes and people
The mulga snake usually flees when it encounters people, but defends itself when cornered. The Mulga snake shows a characteristic defense behavior: the front body is straightened when threatened, the mouth is opened and the neck is slightly spread. In this position the threat is fixed. If the defensive behavior does not work, several quick bites occur, whereby larger amounts of poison are released through supporting chewing movements after a bite. The poison of the Mulga snake has an anticoagulant and neurotoxic effect . The Mulga snake injects the largest amount of venom per bite of any venomous snake in Australia .
literature
- Ludwig Trutnau: poisonous snakes. Publishing house Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart. ISBN 3-8001-7371-9
