Oxyuranus scutellatus (PETERS, 1867)
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Oxyuranus scutellatus
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus (PETERS 1867) Oxyuranus scutellatus canni SLATER 1956 |
| Common Names | E: scutellatus: Coastal taipan, New Guinea Taipan canni: Papuan taipan G: Taipan |
| Synonym | Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus (PETERS 1867) Pseudechis scutellatus PETERS 1867 Pseudechis scutellatus — BOULENGER 1896: 331 Pseudechis wilesmithii DE VIS 1911 Pseudechis wilesmithii — LONGMAN 1913: 42 Pseudechis scutellatus — DE ROOIJ 1917: 269 Oxyuranus scutellatus — KINGHORN 1923 Oxyuranus scutellatus — THOMSON 1933 Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus — WELCH 1994: 97 Oxyuranlls sputellatus — O’SHEA 1996: 11 (in error) Oxyuranus scutellatus — COGGER 2000: 662 Oxyuranus scutellatus barringeri HOSER 2002 (nom. nud. fide WÜSTER et al. 2005) Oxyuranus scutellatus andrewwilsoni HOSER 2009 Oxyuranus scutellatus andrewwilsoni — HOSER 2012 (preliminary) Oxyuranus scutellatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 521 Oxyuranus scutellatus — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017 Oxyuranus scutellatus — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024 Oxyuranus scutellatus canni SLATER 1956 Oxyuranus scutellatus canni SLATER 1956 Oxyuranus scutellatus canni — WELCH 1994: 97 Oxyuranus scutellatus canni — O’SHEA 1996 Oxyuranus scutellatus adelynhoserae HOSER 2009 Oxyuranus scutellatus adelynhoserae — HOSER 2012 (preliminary) Oxyuranus scutellatus canni — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017 Oxyuranus scutellatus canni — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024 |
| Distribution | S Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia) canni: S Papua New Guinea; Type locality: “Napa Napa, Port Moresby” scutellatus: Australia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia) Type locality: “Rockhampton” [Queensland] [Pseudechis scutellatus PETERS 1867] |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 5883 (Pseudechis scutellatus PETERS 1867) Holotype: NMV D8614, female, collected 1953 by K.R. Slater. [canni] |
| Diagnosis | Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2130 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Venomous! This species is considered to be the third-most venomous species in the world (after Oxyuranus microlepidotus and Pseudonaja textilis; fide DOUGHTY et al. 2007). Although the lack of mtDNA differentiation between New Guinea and Australian taipans makes the synonymization of the New Guinea subspecies O. s. canni with O. s. scutellatus very tempting, Wüster et al. (2004) refrain from this course of action due to the obvious and consistent differences in color pattern between the two forms, as well as our very limited sampling regime. The name O. s. barringeri, proposed for the populations from the Kimberley area of Western Australia by Hoser (2002), is a nomen nudum, as the description does not provide a diagnosis compliant with Article 13.1 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Wüster et al. 2004). Habitat: sugarcane fields and woodlands , savannah Type species: Pseudechis scutellatus PETERS 1867 is the type species of the genus Oxyuranus KINGHORN 1923. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | Presumably named after the Latin scutellum (small shield) plus -atus (made of), in reference to the high number of midbody scales. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) The genus Oxyuranus was presumably named after the Greek oxys (sharp) plus oura (tail). The generic diagnosis refers to a peculiar needle-like projection on the anterior point of the pterygoid bone, which may be the sharp tail to which the name refers, rather than the tail of the snake itself. Derivation not stated by Kinghorn (1923). |
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