Animal Tail Looks Like Worm Death Adder

Genus of elapid snakes commonly called death adders

Acanthophis

Acanthophis laevis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Form:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Acanthophis Daudin, 1803^[1]
Species
See taxonomy

Acanthophis is a genus of elapid snakes. Ordinarily called decease adders, they are native to Commonwealth of australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, and are amidst the most venomous snakes in the world. Despite their common proper name, they are not adders at all and belong to the Elapidae family (like cobras). The name of the genus derives from the Ancient Greek akanthos / ἄκανθος ('spine') and ophis / ὄφις ('serpent'), referring to the spine on the death adder's tail.

Seven species are listed by ITIS,^[2] though it remains unclear how many species this genus includes, with figures ranging from 4 to 15 species being quoted.

Taxonomy [ edit ]

French naturalist François Marie Daudin established the genus Acanthophis in 1803, with the common death adder (A. cerastinus) as its merely species.^[3]

Although the expiry adders resemble vipers of the family Viperidae, they are actually members of the family Elapidae, which includes cobras, mambas, and coral snakes.

It remains unclear how many species are included in this genus. Traditionally, but A. antarcticus, A. praelongus and A. pyrrhus take been recognized. In 1985, Wells & Wellington proposed four new species – A. armstrongi, A. hawkei, A. lancasteri, and A. schistos – but these were not widely adopted at the fourth dimension.^[4] In 1998 five new species were described (A. barnetti, A. crotalusei, A. cummingi, A. wellsi and A. woolfi)^[v] and in 2002 an additional three were described (A. groenveldi, A. macgregori and A. yuwoni).^[vi] These were received with scepticism,^[7] ^[8] ^[9] and only A. wellsi, where an extended description has been published,^[7] has been widely recognized.^[ii] ^[10] Further confusion exists over the death adders from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. They have variously been placed in A. antarcticus or A. praelongus. In 2005 it was shown that neither is appropriate, and the New Guinea expiry adders fall into two main clades:^[11] The rather shine-scaled A. laevis complex (including death adders from Seram), and the crude-scaled A. rugosus complex. The latter can be divided into two sub-clades; one, A. rugosus sensu stricto , from southern New Guinea, and a second, A. hawkei, from northern Queensland and the Northern Territory in Commonwealth of australia. It is likely some of these include more than 1 species, equally populations included in eastward.k. A. laevis bear witness extensive variation in both pattern and scalation.^[11]

Species [ edit ]

Species^[2] ^[ten]	Say-so^[ten]	Subspecies*	Common name	Geographic range
A. antarcticus ^T	(Shaw, 1794)	2^[12]	Common death adder	Australia ^[eleven]
A. ceramensis	Albert Günther, 1863	0^[13]	Günther's expiry adder	Indonesia (Seram, Tanimbar)^[thirteen]
A. cryptamydros	Maddock, Ellis, Doughty, Smith & Wüster, 2015	0^[xiv]	Kimberley death adder	Australia^[14] ^[15]
A. hawkei	Wells & Wellington, 1985	0^[16]	Barkly Tableland death adder	Commonwealth of australia^[16]
A. laevis	Macleay, 1878	0^[17]	Smooth-scaled death adder	Indonesia, Papua New Republic of guinea ^[17]
A. praelongus	Ramsay, 1877	0^[18]	Northern decease adder	Commonwealth of australia^[eleven]
A. pyrrhus	Boulenger, 1898	0^[xix]	Desert death adder	Australia^[19]
A. rugosus	Loveridge, 1948	0^[20]	Crude-scaled death adder	Australia, Republic of indonesia^[20]
A. wellsi	Hoser, 1998	one^[21]	Pilbara expiry adder	Australia^[21]

* Not including the nominate subspecies.
^T Blazon species.

Description [ edit ]

Death adders are very viper-like in advent, having a brusk, robust torso, triangular shaped heads, small-scale subocular scales, many small scales on the top of the head, and elevated supraocular scales. Dorsal scales may be smooth or keeled. Body patterning is generally crossbanding, and they accept vertically elliptical pupils.^[22] Their fangs are also longer and more mobile than for most other elapids, although still far from the size seen in some of the true vipers. Despite their name, they are non related to adders, which are members of the family Viperidae, and their similar appearance is due to convergent development.

They usually take 2–iii years to reach adult size. Females are generally slightly larger than the males. They tin also be easily distinguished from other Australian snakes because of a minor, worm like lure on the terminate of their tail, which is used to concenter prey. Most take large bands effectually their bodies, though the color itself is variable, depending on their locality. Colours are usually black, grey or red and yellow, only as well include brown and greenish-grey.

Death adders are ovoviviparous with the embryos developing in bleary sacs inside the female who will give birth to litters of eight to 30 alive neonates.^[22]

Origin of proper name [ edit ]

The name was originally "deaf adder". Psalm 58 says: They are every bit venomous as the poison of a ophidian; even like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ears; Which refuseth to hear the vocalism of the charmer: amuse he never and then wisely. Early on settlers of Commonwealth of australia also called them "deaf adders".^[23] How "deaf" became "decease" is non recorded.

Unlike other snakes that tend to run abroad from human disturbance, the expiry adder is inclined to hold its ground, leading to the notion that the death adder cannot hear. Even so, expiry adders, similar other snakes, perceive ground vibrations.

Hunting [ edit ]

Unlike most snakes, death adders do non actively hunt, but rather prevarication in ambush and draw their prey to them.^[24] When hungry, death adders bury themselves amongst the substrate. This may be leafage litter, soil or sand, depending on their surroundings. The only part of themselves they expose are their head and their tail, both generally very well camouflaged. The cease of the tail is used for caudal luring and when wiggled, information technology is easily mistaken for a grub or worm. When the snake'southward casualty attempts to seize it, the death adder strikes. Although information technology has been claimed to take the quickest strike of any snake in the globe,^[25] this topic has not been well enough studied to make reliable comparisons.^[26] They commonly feed on local geckos such as the Dubious dtella.

Venom [ edit ]

Death adders can inject on average 40–100 mg of highly toxic venom with a seize with teeth. The LD₅₀ of the venom was reported as 0.4–0.5 mg/kg subcutaneous and information technology is completely neurotoxic, containing neither haemotoxins nor myotoxins, unlike the venoms of most venomous snakes.

A bite from a death adder tin crusade paralysis which seems minor at get-go just can cause death from a complete respiratory shutdown in six hours. Symptoms of envenomation can be reversed through the use of death adder antivenom, or using anticholinesterases, which break the synaptic blockade by making acetylcholine more than available to the parasympathetic nervous system, thus mitigating the effects of the venom.

Before antivenom was introduced, it is reported that most fifty% of death adder bites were fatal. A fatal bite is less likely at present as the anti-venom is widely bachelor and the progression of envenomation symptoms is slow.

References [ edit ]

^ "Acanthophis". Dahms Tierleben. [www.dahmstierleben.de/systematik/Reptilien/Squamata/Serpentes/colubroidea/Elapidae].
^ ^a ^b ^c "Acanthophis ". Integrated Taxonomic Information System . Retrieved ten March 2011.
^ Daudin, François Marie (1802). Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, des reptiles : ouvrage faisant suite à l'Histoire naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon, et rédigée par C.Southward. Sonnini . Vol. 97. Paris: F. Dufart. pp. 289–296.
^ Ellis, Ryan J.; Kaiser, Hinrich; Maddock, Simon T.; Doughty, Paul; Wüster, Wolfgang (29 June 2022). "An evaluation of the nomina for death adders (Acanthophis Daudin, 1803) proposed by Wells & Wellington (1985), and confirmation of A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015 as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder". Zootaxa. 4995 (one): 161–172. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4995.ane.ix. ISSN 1175-5334. [ane]
^ Hoser, R. (1998): Decease adders (genus Acanthophis): an overview, including descriptions of five new species and i subspecies. Monitor 9(2): 20-30, 33-41. bachelor online
^ Hoser, R. (2002): Death Adders (Genus Acanthophis): An Updated overview, including descriptions of iii New Isle species and 2 New Australian subspecies. Crocodilian - Journal of the Victorian Association of Amateur Herpetologists, September 2002: 5-11, 16-22, 24-30, forepart and back covers. available online
^ ^a ^b Aplin, One thousand.P. & S.C. Donnellan (1999): An extended description of the Pilbara Decease Adder, Acanthophis wellsi Hoser (Serpentes: Elapidae), with notes on the Desert Death Adder, A. pyrrhus Boulenger, and identification of a possible hybrid zone. Records of the Western Australian Museum 19: 277-298.
^ Wüster, W., B. Bush, J.S. Keogh, One thousand. O'Shea & R. Shine (2001): Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on contempo descriptions of new genera and species past Raymond Hoser. Litteratura Serpentium 21: 67-79, 86-91. bachelor online (PDF) Archived 9 Baronial 2007 at the Wayback Machine
^ Williams, D., W. Wüster & B. Fry (2006): The good, the bad and the ugly: Australian serpent taxonomists and a history of the taxonomy of Australia's venomous snakes. Toxicon 48: 919-930. available online (PDF) Archived 25 Dec 2006 at the Wayback Automobile
^ ^a ^b ^c Reptile Database (version 10 March 2011). Acanthophis.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Wüster, Wolfgang; Dumbrell; Hay, C.; Pook, C.Eastward.; Williams, D.J.; Fry, B.One thousand. (2005). "Snakes across the Strait: Trans-Torresian phylogeographic relationships in three genera of Australasian snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Acanthophis, Oxyuranus and Pseudechis)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Development. 34 (1): 1–xiv. doi:ten.1016/j.ympev.2004.08.018. PMID 15579378.
^ Reptile Database (version 10 March 2011). Acanthophis antarcticus.
^ ^a ^b (14 Sep 2015). Acanthophis ceramensis.
^ ^a ^b Maddock, S. T., R. J. Ellis, P. Dougthy, Fifty. A. Smith & W. Wüster (2015): A new species of death adder (Acanthophis: Serpentes: Elapidae) from north-western Australia. Zootaxa 4007: 301–326. available online (PDF)
^ (14 Sep 2015). New Species of Venomous Snake Discovered in Commonwealth of australia.
^ ^a ^b Reptile Database (version ten March 2011). Acanthophis hawkei.
^ ^a ^b Reptile Database (version 10 March 2011). Acanthophis laevis.
^ Reptile Database (version 10 March 2011). Acanthophis praelongus.
^ ^a ^b Reptile Database (version 10 March 2011). Acanthophis pyrrhus.
^ ^a ^b Reptile Database (version x March 2011). Acanthophis rugosus.
^ ^a ^b Reptile Database (version x March 2011). Acanthophis wellsi.
^ ^a ^b "Death Adders". University of Melbourne. 2 May 2017. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved ten October 2022.
^ "CSL Antivenom Handbook: CSL Expiry Adder Antivenom". Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
^ Mahony, Stephen (2022). "Mutual Death Adder". The Australian Museum . Retrieved 9 October 2022. {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-condition (link)
^ Baker, Kevin (4 July 2016). The World'due south Almost Dangerous Animals SUBTITLE . eBookIt.com. ISBN 9781456626976 .
^ Penning, David A.; Sawvel, Baxter; Moon, Brad R. (March 2016). "Debunking the viper'southward strike: harmless snakes kill a common supposition". Biology Letters. 12 (3): 20160011. doi:x.1098/rsbl.2016.0011. ISSN 1744-9561. PMC 4843225 . PMID 26979562.

External links [ edit ]