Oxyuranus microlepidotus (MCCOY, 1879)

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Higher Taxa	Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Fierce Snake, Inland Taipan G: Schreckensotter, Kleinschuppenschlange, Australischer Inlandtaipan
Synonym	Diemenia microlepidota MCCOY 1879 Diemenia ferox MACLEAY 1882: 812 Pseudechis ferox — BOULENGER 1896 Pseudechis microlepidotus — BOULENGER 1896 Parademansia microlepidota — KINGHORN 1955 Oxyuranus microlepidotus — COVACEVICH et al. 1981 Oxyuranus scutellatus microlepidotus Oxyuranus microlepidotus — WELCH 1994: 97 Oxyuranus microlepidotus — COGGER 2000: 662 Oxyuranus microlepidotus — MATTISON 2007: 260 Oxyuranus microlepidotus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 521 Oxyuranus microlepidotus — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017
Distribution	Australia (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria) Type locality: "junction of Murray and Darling," [Rivers, northwestern Victoria, Australia].
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Lectotype, NMV D12354 (orig. 493 and R 12871) (W. Blandowski), designated by Coventry, 1970: 121.
Diagnosis
Comment	Venomous! Maybe the most venomous snake of the world. The toxin from one bite may be sufficient to kill 250,000 mice (PREISSLER 2004). Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024.
Etymology	Named after Greek mikros (= small) + lepidotos (= scaled), referring to the relatively small scales on its back.
References	Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp. Covacevich J & Wombey, J 1976. Recognition of Parademansia microlepidotus (McCoy), Elapidae, a dangerous Australian snake. Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 87:29-32 Covacevich, J., McDowell, S.B., Tanner, C. & Mengdon, G. 1980. The relationship of the taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus) and the small-scaled snake (O. microlepidotus), Serpentes: Elapidae. Proc. Aust. Herp. Symposium (Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens, Parkville): 160-168. Kinghorn, J.R. 1955. Herpetological notes. No. 5. Rec. Austral. Mus. 23: 283-286 - get paper here Laita, Mark 2013. Serpentine. Abrams and PQ Blackwell, Auckland, New Zealand, 200 unnumbered pages Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here Macleay, W. 1882. Description of two new species of snakes. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 6: 811-813 - get paper here Mattison, Chris 2007. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press McCoy, F. 1879. Diemenia superciliosa (Fischer) The common brown snake; Diemenia microlepidota (McCoy) Small-scaled brown snake, Diemenia aspidorhyncha (McCoy) The shield-fronted brown snake. [...] Prod. Zool. Vict. 3: 11-13. - get paper here Mirtschin, P. J.; Reid, R. B. 1982. Occurrence and distribution of the Inland Taipan Oxyuranus microlepidotus (Reptilia: Elapidae) in South Australia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Australia 106:213-214. - get paper here Mirtschin, P., Rasmussen, A.R. & Weinstein, S.A. 2017. Australia’s Dangerous snakes. CSIRO Publishing, 424 pp. - get paper here O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here Preißler, D. 2004. Alles über Schlangen. Draco 5 (17): 4-21 - get paper here Read J L. 1994. A major range extension and new ecological data on Oxyuranus microlepidotus (Reptilia: Elapidae). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 118 (1-2): 143-145 - get paper here Seung Hoon, Cha 2012. Snake, the world most beautifull curve [in Korean]. Hownext, 304 pp. [ISBN 978-89-965656-7-3] - get paper here Strimple, Peter D.;Covacevich, Jeanette 1997. The Taipans of Australia & New Guinea. Reptiles 5 (12): 32-45 Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp. Wachtel, Eric 2018. Ein Traum wird wahr: 6 Monate unterwegs durch Australien. Ophidia 12 (2): 12-23 Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp. Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/snakes/elapids/elapids.htm http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/elapidae.pdf http://zoobank.org/6E91FE2B-A4E7-4A7E-BD68-A9C883760883 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:823DA8CA-9F68-444A-8460… http://www.aussiepythons.com/postnuke/print.php?sid=30 http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Elapidae/Oxyuranus… http://www.seh-herpetology.org/images/atlas/pdf/squamata/oxymic.pdf http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Elapidae/Parasuta/monachus http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Elapidae/Parasuta/nigriceps Google images

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