OOP Python

A dead 12-foot python was found in a channel of Nippersink Lake (near Chicago, IL). It's thought that snappers may have eaten the head. (News source.)

(I'm thinking retic morph, as it's oddly patterned, but it looks like it is badly decomposed, so can't be certain from the poor images shown... doesn't appear to be a boa or Burmese.)

Seven-Colored Snake

There's a strange report of a "seven-colored" snake from Nepal, found in a well. (News source.) "Another local Jagat Raj Khanal said the snake has already changed four colors." Not sure what that means, as snakes don't change color like that... (shades, sometimes, but that obviously isn't the case here). In any case, the snake is becoming a tourist attraction and religious icon. There are a number of species of snakes in Nepal, so hard to say what exactly is responsible for this. Of course, it's possible that several snakes are taking refuge in the well, confusing the issue.

Recently Described Snakes

Two interesting snakes have been described recently in Zootaxa.

The first is a new species of false water cobra, called Hydrodynastes melanogigas. (At present, I've only seen the abstract, not the full paper.) From the abstract:

"A new species of Hydrodynastes is described from the State of Tocantins, Central Brazil. The new species is distinguished from all congeners by having a melanistic color pattern, with head and dorsum of the body mostly dark-brown to black; absence of postocular stripe; venter grayish-brown, with dark rounded blotches outlining two lateral stripes which become gradually paler towards the posterior region of the belly, disappearing after midbody."

The second is a species of Pseudoboa, a group of nocturnal prey-constricting colubrids. Pseudoboa martinsi is a "brightly colored species" in the Amazon basin of Brazil. (abstract)

Big Rattlesnake

A six-foot eastern diamondback rattlesnake was killed when it entered a Florida resident's backyard. (News source, includes picture of snake.) (Which gives opportunity to mention again, Boss Snakes: Stories and Sightings of Giant Snakes in North America...)

Boss Snakes

Now available, Boss Snakes: Stories and Sightings of Giant Snakes in North America. More details here.

Download for Giant Spitting Cobra Description

You can download a pdf of the paper describing the new species of giant spitting cobra noted previously here.

Get an eyeful of this: a new species of giant spitting cobra from eastern and
north-eastern Africa (Squamata: Serpentes: Elapidae: Naja)
WOLFGANG WÜSTER & DONALD G. BROADLEY
Zootaxa 1532: 51–68 (2007)

New Giant Spitting Cobra

A new species of "giant" spitting cobra was described from Kenya. Naja ashei reaches almost nine feet in length. The late James Ashe, founder of the Bio-Ken snake farm, first caught the snake in the 1960s, and suggested it was a new species. (News source.)

California Snake Identified

The "15-foot" mystery snake in Stockton, CA, has been identified as a 6-foot boa, from a shed skin found in the area. (News source.)

15-foot Snake Reported

Several homeless people in Stockton, California, have reported seeing a 15-foot snake near a local waterway, the Mormon Slough. From descriptions, it has been tentatively identified as a Burmese python. (News source.)

Ethnoknown Viper Hunt

A news article from the Telegraph (Calcutta) notes that a year-long hunt in Arunachal Pradesh, in search of a large dangerous snake was successful, with the capture of two specimens.

"Barta, as the local Nyishi tribesmen call the six-foot-something reptile, is the most-feared creature among the tribes in Arunachal Pradesh.
"According to Nyishi folklore, sighting of a barta, meaning the deadliest of all the snakes, is a bad omen." ...
"'Going by the colour, count and patterns of the newly-found snakes which differ from Protobothrops kaulbacki, another species of pit viper snake spotted by Ronald Kaulback in the forests of Upper Myanmar in 1940, it can be said that it is probably a new species found never before in the forests. Although at a glance they look similar to the snake found in Myanmar, their features differ from Protobothrops kaulbacki. The blood samples of the snakes have been sent for DNA tests to a Hyderabad-based laboratory this month. We are awaiting an official confirmation,' Bhatt told The Telegraph."

Two Heads

Two young boys caught a baby two-headed snake in Iowa. Their mother plans to release it after a few days. (A better plan would be to donate it to a museum, as two-headed snakes are unlikely to survive long in the wild.) (News source.)

Snake Isn't Boa

A snake scare near Chicago turned out to be caused by a native fox snake, not an exotic constrictor. (News source.)

Addendum and details Oxyuranus temporalis - the new taipan species

Earlier on March 9th, 2007, it was reported that a new species of taipan was discovered in Australia.

However, it was neglected to mention more specifics of this new snake.

In the paper “A new species of taipan (Elapidae: Oxyuranus) from central Australia”, researchers P. Doughty, B. Maryan, S.C. Donnellan and M.N. Hutchinson (in Zootaxa 1422: 45-58: 2007) described Oxyuranus temporalis.

The new species, name after its varied temporal scales from its two sister species, was collected near Walter James Range in Western Australia on September 22, 2006 at around 4 p.m. by M.N. Hutchinson after being spotted from an automobile.. Its primary distinguisher from O. microlepidotus and O. scutellatus, its sister species taipans, is via one primary temporal scales (vs. two) and six lower labials (vs. seven). Subsequent genetic analysis also differentiated the three sisters.

The holotype measures just under 3 feet in length, and exhibits a brownish coloration with spotted locales of yellowish-white.

This marks the third species of taipan known, and the first in 125 years. Suggestive by the researchers that taipans were once more widespread through Australia. These snakes are among the most venomous in the world, so additional research and collection of this 3rd species will be necessary to determine its distribution, toxicity, and size.

New Taipan Found

RESEARCHERS have found a new species of taipan snake slithering in the outback.
Similar to the western brown snake, the still unnamed species was discovered during an expedition to a remote region about 200km northwest of Uluru in September last year.

Mark Hutchinson, reptile and amphibian curator at the South Australian Museum, caught the immature female taipan while it was crossing a dirt track.

Dr Hutchinson bagged the 1m venomous snake and sent it to the Western Australian Museum in Perth for inspection.

"It was a bit of a surprise," he said. "You usually don't find a new species that big out in the open - well, not in Australia."

A Madagascar Blindsnake Rediscovered after 100 Years

Not what I'd call a major rediscovery (any burrowing species is going to be elusive under the best conditions), but this particular species of blindsnake was last seen in 1905. From FoxNews:

"The snake, which looks like a long, skinny pink worm, was only known from two other specimens, both discovered in 1905.
"'They're really rare because they're subterranean,' said blind-snake expert Van Wallach of Harvard University, who described the new specimen. 'You can't just go out anytime you want and collect these things. You can dig forever and never find them.'
"Scientists captured the snake, called Xenotyphlops mocquardi, alive in 2005 during an expedition to collect reptiles and amphibians in northern Madagascar. The specimen was approximately 10 inches long and about as thick as a pencil.
"There are about 15 species of blind snakes on the island, so the unique nature of the team's find wasn't apparent until the blind snake specimen was sent to museum experts for identification and possible comparison with dead specimens in their collections." ...
"The rediscovered blind snake is detailed in the Feb. issue of the journal Zootaxa."

[Full news archived at StrangeArk mailing list.]

Anaconda Attack

A young boy in Brazil was saved from a large anaconda by his grandfather. From the news:

"An eight-year-old boy was saved by his grandfather after a five-metre anaconda in Brazil began to swallow him headfirst.
"Local newspaper Bom Dia Rio Preto reported that Mateus Araujo had been walking near a creek with his eight-year-old cousin Flavio when they were attacked by the giant snake.
"It bit Mateus in the chest and coiled about him. It then attempted to swallow him head first.
"Flavius ran to Mateus's 66-year-old grandfather Joaquim's house.
"Joaquim ran to the creekbed and found his grandson slowly being eaten by the monster snake.
Joaquim attempted to free his half-devoured grandson by attacking the serpent with a machete, and after a battle that Bom Dia said took over half-an-hour, he managed to pull his son from the anaconda's mouth.
"The python was killed by locals afterwards, and Mateus received several stitches to the right side of chest, where he had been bitten.
"Mateus, from Sao Paolo, had been visiting his grandfather's farm in the municipality of Cosmorama, a small township about 400 kilometres north of Sao Paulo."

Xenotyphlops Found

The genus Xenotyphlops consists of one known species. That of the enigmatic blind snake from Madagascar Xenotyphlops gradidieri.

First discovered by Francois Mocquard the blind snake was described in 1905 and given the designation Typhlops grandidieri . This description and classification was based on two specimens of the snake with an unclear range location.

For 100 years the snake had not been reported again. In 1996 the species was redescribed as the Xenotyphlops grandidieri in Redescription of a Rare Malagasy Blind Snake, Typhlops grandidieri Mocquard, with Placement in a New Genus (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) V. Wallach, Ivan Ineich Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), pp. 367-376

But still no rediscovery of the species or genus had happened.

But, this has now ended. The description and documentation of a collected 3rd specimen from the northern section of Madagascar has been done, this rediscovered snake has external and internal features sufficiently different to classify it as a distinct species itself.

The full article is printed in Zootaxa 1402:59-68 (2007) within the entry Rediscovery of the enigmatic blind snake genus Xenotyphlops in northern Madagascar, with description of a new species authored by V. Wallach, V. Mercurio and F. Andreone.

Rhabdophis Toxins: From Toad to Snake

The small colubrid snakes of the genus Rhabdophis have a shady past in the pet trade. Because they resemble certain harmless garter-snake like species, they were imported into the U.S. and U.K. under the wrong names, and ended up causing medically-significant emergencies when they bit their new owners. Rhabdophis are one of the few rear-fanged groups that can cause serious harm or even fatalities. A new study shows where they acquire this toxicity:

"A new study shows that the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus becomes poisonous by sequestering toxins from its prey which consists of venomous toads. The research is published in the current issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Analyzing differences between snakes living on toad-rich and toad-deficient islands in Japan, Researchers lead by Deborah A. Hutchinson of Old Dominion University in Norfold, Virginia, found that Japanese grass snake or Yamakagashi, as the snake is known locally, did not manufacture its own venom, but instead relied on that found in toxic toads:
"'The researchers found that snakes living on Japan’s toad-free island of Kinkazan lacked the toad’s toxic bufadienolide compounds completely. Snakes from Ishima, where toads are plentiful, had high levels of bufadienolides. R. tigrinus from Honshu, where toad numbers vary, displayed a wide range of bufadienolide concentrations. Feeding R. tigrinus hatchlings toad-rich and toad-free diets confirmed these results.'

"The study also found that snake mothers with high concentrations of the toxin are able to pass bufadienolide toxin on their offspring helping protect them from predators.
"The Yamakagashi stores the sequestered toxins in 'a series of paired structures known as nuchal glands in the dorsal skin of the neck,' according to the researchers. When threatened the snake takes a defensive position that exposes the toxin-containing nuchal glands to predators.

"While sequestering defensive toxins from prey is unusual among terrestrial vertebrates it is not unknown. Research published last year by Valerie C. Clark of Cornell University showed that poison dart frogs (Dendrobates species) and their Madagascar counterparts, the Mantella frogs, sequester toxic skin chemicals, called alkaloids, from the ants they eat. These alkaloids protect the frogs from predation. Similarly, some garter snakes are known to store tetrodotoxin from ingested newts while birds in New Guinea appear to sequester poisons from insects.

"Citation: 'Dietary sequestration of defensive steroids in nuchal glands of the Asian snake Rhabdophis tigrinus' by Deborah A. Hutchinson, Akira Mori, Alan H. Savitzky, Gordon M. Burghardt, Xiaogang Wu, Jerrold Meinwald, and Frank C. Schroeder."

NewScientist notes:

"What is more, when attacked, snakes on different islands react differently. On Ishima, snakes stand their ground and rely on the toxins in their nuchal glands to repel the predator. On Kinkazan, the snakes flee.
"'Snakes on Kinkazan have evolved to use their nuchal glands in defence less often than other populations of snakes, presumably due to their lack of defensive compounds,' says Hutchinson.
"Moreover, baby snakes benefit too. The team showed that snake mothers with high toxin levels pass on the compounds to their offspring. Snake hatchlings thus also enjoy the toad-derived protection."