For all of you out there feeling a little blue because there just aren’t enough venomous snakes in Australia, fear not! Yet another has been added to the ranks.
A team of scientists led by Simon Maddock, a PhD student at the Natural History Museum and University College London, recently discovered a new species of death adder in western Australia. The Kimberley death adder (Acanthophis cryptamydros), named for the Kimberley region in which it was found, shares a characteristic diamond-shaped head and stout body with the rest of its kin, but its unusual underbelly sets it apart.
Unlike other death adders, this new species has an unpigmented underside with one to three rows of black spots. It was discovered while Maddock and his team, which also inluded included researchers from Bangor University and the Western Australian Museum, were digging into the genetics of other snakes in the region.
Confusing as it may be, death adders aren’t actually adders at all. They’re members of the Elapidae family, making them more closely related to cobras and mambas. The difference between them lies in the venom. Death adder venom is neurotoxic, which primarily affects the nervous system, while adder venom is both hemotoxic and myotoxic, affecting the blood cells and damaging tissue.
At this point it’s not known how many Kimberley death adders there are in the wild, but according to Maddock, they’re probably quite rare and potentially in trouble as invasive cane toads advance through their habitat. The toads make the perfect meal for the snakes, who typically ambush prey such as frogs, lizards and small mammals. Unfortunately, cane toads are poisonous and can be deadly to the snakes.
“It looks like populations of death adders in general are declining in the area,” explains Maddock. “And there are records of them eating these poisonous cane toads. It’s potentially a big threat.”
Maddock believes legal protections may be needed in future to ensure the continued survival of this deadly and interesting new species.
Top header image: R.J. Ellis
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