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Pseudechis australis (GRAY, 1842)

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: King brown snake, mulga snake
G: Mulgaschlange 
SynonymNaja australis GRAY 1842: 55
Pseudechis australis — GÜNTHER 1863: 362
Pseudechis darwiniensis MACLEAY 1878: 220
Pseudechis cupreus BOULENGER 1896: 329 (part.)
Pseudechis darwiniensis — BOULENGER 1896: 330
Pseudechis denisonioides WERNER 1909: 258
Pseudechis australis — FRY 1914: 197
Pseudechis australis — DE ROOIJ 1917: 268
Pseudechis darwiniensis — WERNER 1927: 249
Pseudechis platycephalus THOMSON 1933: 859
Denisonia brunnea MITCHELL 1951: 551
Pseudechis australis — SMITH 1982: 37
Pseudechis australis — WELCH 1994: 103
Pailsus rossignolii HOSER 2000 (fide WÜSTER et al. 2001)
Pseudechis australis — COGGER 2000: 664
Cannia australis aplini HOSER 2001
Cannia australis burgessi HOSER 2001
Cannia australis newmani HOSER 2001
Pseudechis rossignolii — WÜSTER et al. 2004
Pseudechis australis — MATTISON 2007: 261
Pseudechis australis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 596
Pseudechis australis — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017 
DistributionAustralia (New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia)

Type locality: Port Essington, N.T., Australia  
Reproductionoviparous (ovoviviparous) 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.20.39
Holotype: AM R31927, from Port Darwin, N. T. [Pseudechis darwiniensis].
Holotype: none; description based on literature records (see also under Pseudonaja textilis Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854), from "Murray River", N. S. W. /Vic. [Pseudechis cupreus].
Holotype: not found, from Eradu, W. A. [Pseudechis denisonioides].
Holotype: NMV D12355, from East Alligator River, Arnhem Land, N. T. [Pseudechis platycephalus].
Holotype: SAMA R3151, from Mount Wedge, near Elliston on the W coast of Eyre Peninsula, S. A. [Denisonia brunnea]. 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (3117 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy partly after COGGER 1983. Wüster et al. (2004) consider Pailsus rossignolii and Pseudechis weigeli as a valid species based on DNA sequence divergence. However, further studies are required to confirm their species status. KAISER et al. rejected all names coined by HOSER in or after 2000.

Venomous!

Distribution: see map of localities in MADDOCK et al. 2016.

Type species: Naja australis GRAY 1842: 55 is the type species of the genus Cannia Wells & Wellington 1984. Wells & Wellington 1985 included 4 species in the genus: Cannia australis, Cannia brunnea, Cannia butleri, and Cannia centralis sp. nov.

Diagnosis (Cannia): A genus of large, bulky and highly venomous elapids that can be readily distinguished by the following combination of characters; fangs followed by 3-5 slightly recurved teeth on the maxilla; rostra1 broader than deep; frontal about as broad as the supraocular and 2 times as long as broad;internasals 1/2 as long as prefrontals; midbody 17-19 rows; ventrals 185-235; anal divided; subcaudals 50-75, (anteriorly single divided); oviparous; completely flattens the body when agitated; reaches a maximum length of over 2 m. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin australis (southern), although Gray is likely alluding to the southern continent Australia rather than a southern distribution within that continent. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Brischoux F, Pizzatto L, Shine R. 2010. Insights into the adaptive significance of vertical pupil shape in snakes. J Evol Biol. 23(9): 1878-85. - get paper here
  • Bush, B. 1981. Reptiles of the Kalgoorlie-Esperance Region. B. Bush, Perth, 46 pp - get paper here
  • Bush, B. & Maryan, B. 2006. Snakes and Snake-like Reptiles of Southern Western Australia. Snakes Harmful & Harmless, Stoneville, Perth, Western Australia, 40 pp. - get paper here
  • 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.
  • de Rooij, N. DE 1917. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. Il. Ophidia. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 334 S. - get paper here
  • Even,Eddy 2005. Reptielen zoeken in Australië. Lacerta 63 (2): 48-65 - get paper here
  • Fry, D. B. 1914. On a collection of reptiles and batrachians from Western Australia. Rec. West. Austral. Mus. 1:174-210 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1842. Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian reptiles and batrachians. Zoological Miscellany 2: 51—57 (London: Treuttel, Würtz & Co) - get paper here
  • Günther. A. 1863. Third account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 12: 348 - 365 - get paper here
  • Hoser, R. 2001. A current assessment of the status of the snakes of the genera Cannia and Pailsus, including descriptions of three new subspecies from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Australia. Boydii: Journal of the Herpetological Society of Queensland (July 2001): 26-60 - get paper here
  • Hoser, Raymond 2000. A New Species of Snake (Serpentes: Elapidae) from Irian Jaya. Litteratura Serpentium 20 (6):178-186 - get paper here
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • Kinghorn, J. Roy 1924. Reptiles and batrachians from south and south-west Australia. Rec. Austral. Mus. 14 (3): 163-183 - get paper here
  • Kuch, Ulrich; J. Scott Keogh; John Weigel; Laurie A. Smith & Dietrich Mebs 2005. Phylogeography of Australia s king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) reveals Pliocene divergence and Pleistocene dispersal of a top predator. Naturwissenschaften 92:121–127 - get paper here
  • Lidth DE JEUDE, T.W. VAN 1911. Reptilien (Schlangen). Nova Guinea. Résultats de l’expedition scientifique néerlandaise à la Nouvelle Guinée en 1907 sous les auspices de Dr. H.A. Lorenz 9. Leiden (E. J. Brill), pp. 265-287
  • Mackay, R. D. 1955. A revision of the genus Pseudechis. Proc. R. Zool. Soc. N. S. W. 1953-54: 15-23 - get paper here
  • Macleay, W. 1878. Notes on a collection of snakes from Port Darwin. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2: 219-222 - get paper here
  • Maddock, Simon T.;Aaron Childerstone, Bryan Grieg Fry, David J. Williams , Axel Barlow, Wolfgang Wüster 2016. Multi-locus phylogeny and species delimitation of Australo-Papuan blacksnakes (Pseudechis Wagler, 1830: Elapidae: Serpentes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 107: 48-55 [2017, but published online 2016] - get paper here
  • Maryan, B., Gaikhorst, G., & Parkhurst, B. 2024. The terrestrial herpetofauna of the Zuytdorp coast and hinterland of Western Australia: Exceptional richness in a global biodiversity hotspot. Western Australian Naturalist, 33, 3
  • Maryan, Brad 1997. Is "King Brown Snake" and appropriate common name for Pseudechis australis? Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (2): 20-22
  • Mattison, Chris 2007. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press
  • McDonald, Peter J.; Luck, Gary W. 2013. Density of an environmental weed predicts the occurrence of the king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) in central Australia. The Herpetological Journal 23 (3): 161-165 - get paper here
  • Mirtschin, P., Rasmussen, A.R. & Weinstein, S.A. 2017. Australia’s Dangerous snakes. CSIRO Publishing, 424 pp. - get paper here
  • Mitchell, F. J. 1951. The South Australian Reptile Fauna. Part. 1. Ophidia. Rec. South Austral. Mus. 9: 545—557. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here
  • O’Shea,M. 1996. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Independent Publishing, Port Moresby, xii + 239 pp. - get paper here
  • Parkin, T., Jolly, C. J., de Laive, A., & von Takach, B. 2020. Snakes on an urban plain: Temporal patterns of snake activity and human–snake conflict in Darwin, Australia. Austral Ecology - get paper here
  • Roux, Jean 1919. Note sur quelques reptiles provenant de la Nouvelle-Guinée. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 27: 347-351 - get paper here
  • Shine, Richard; Claire Goiran, Catherine Shilton, Shai Meiri, Gregory P Brown 2019. The life aquatic: an association between habitat type and skin thickness in snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, blz136 - get paper here
  • Simpson, KNG 1973. AMPHIBIANS, REPTILES AND MAMMALS OF THE MURRAY RIVER region between Mildura and Renmark, Australia. Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict. 34: 275-279 - get paper here
  • Smith L A 1982. Variation in Pseudechis australis (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia and description of a new species of Pseudechis. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 10 (1): 35-45 - get paper here
  • Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney
  • Sternfeld, R. 1925. Beiträge zur Herpetologie Inner-Australiens. Abhandlungen Herausgegeben von der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft, 38: 221—251
  • Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp.
  • Thomson, D. F. 1933. Notes on the Australian snakes of the genera Pseudechis and Oxyuranus. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1933: 855-860
  • 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.
  • Wells R W; Wellington C R 1984. A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology 1 (3-4): 73-129 [31 Dec 1983 on cover]
  • Wells, R. W. and Wellington, C. R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplementary Series (1): 1-61 [sometimes cited as 1983] - get paper here
  • Werner, F. 1909. Reptilia exkl. Geckonidae und Scincidae. In: Michaelsen, W., and R. Hartmeyer. Die Fauna Südwest-Australiens. Vol. 2., pp. 263-270. G. Fischer, Wien.
  • Werner, F. 1927. Neue oder wenig bekannte Schlangen aus dem Wiener naturhistorischen Staatsmuseum (III. Teil). Sitzungsb. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Math. Naturwiss. Kl. 143 [135?]: 243-257 [1926] - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Wüster, W., B. Bush, J. S. Keogh, M. O’Shea, and R. Shine 2001. Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on recent descriptions of new genera and species by Raymond Hoser. Litteratura Serpentium 21 (3): 86-91 - get paper here
  • Wüster, Wolfgang; Alex J. Dumbrell; Chris Hay; Catharine E. Pook; David J. Williams and Bryan Grieg Fry 2004. Snakes across the Strait: trans-Torresian phylogeographic relationships in three genera of Australasian snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Acanthophis, Oxyuranus, and Pseudechis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33 (3): 1-14 - get paper here
 
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