Pseudonaja

Pseudonaja
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Pseudonaja Günther, 1858

Pseudonaja is a genus of venomous elapid snakes native to Australia. Members are known commonly as brown snakes and are considered to be one of the most dangerous snakes in the country; even young snakes are capable of delivering a fatal envenomation to a human.

Species

• Dugite or Spotted Brown Snake , Pseudonaja affinis
  • Pseudonaja affinis affinis (Günther, 1872) — coastal mainland Western Australia.
  • Pseudonaja affinis exilis (Storr, 1989) — mainland Western Australia and Rottnest Island.
  • Pseudonaja affinis tanneri (Worrell, 1961) — mainland Western Australia, Boxer Island and other islands.
• Speckled Brown Snake or Spotted Brown Snake , Pseudonaja guttata (Parker, 1926) — Northern Territory, Queensland, and South Australia.
• Peninsula Brown Snake, Pseudonaja inframacula (Waite, 1925) — South Australia, Western Australia, Eyre Peninsula.
• Ingram's Brown Snake, Pseudonaja ingrami (Boulenger, 1908) — Northern Territory, Queensland, and Western Australia.
• Ringed Brown Snake, Pseudonaja modesta (Günther, 1872) — New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.
• Gwardar or Western Brown Snake, Pseudonaja nuchalis (Günther, 1858) — New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia.
• Eastern Brown Snake, Pseudonaja textilis (Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854) — New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, south-eastern West Papua, and both south-eastern (Central Province) and north-eastern (Oro & Milne Bay Provinces) Papua New Guinea.

A photo of a Dugite taken in Joondalup, Western Australia.

Toxicity

Eastern Brown Snake

Brown snakes are easily alarmed and may bite if approached closely, handled or threatened. Less than half of bites contain venom and there are minimal effects at the bite site. Sudden, early collapse is often a feature of brown snake envenomation. A prominent effect of envenomation is venom-induced consumption coagulopathy and this can lead to death. Renal damage may also rarely occur.

Other clinical signs include: abdominal pain, breathing and swallowing difficulty, convulsions, ptosis, hemolysis, hypotension from depression of myocardial contractility, renal failure. Notably rhabdomyolysis is not a feature of envenomation by brown snakes.

The Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) is the most toxic member of the genus and is considered by some to be the second most toxic land snake in the world, after the Inland Taipan (which is also found in Australia). The western brown snake is the tenth most venomous snake in the world.

Brown snakes can easily harm animals and live stock as well.

References

• Genus Pseudonaja at The Reptile Database