Ceylon krait [1] ( lat. Bungarus ceylonicus ) - a species of snakes from the family of aspids .
| Ceylon krait | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bungarus ceylonicus Günther , 1864 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Content
Description
This is the smallest representative of krait. The total length varies from 70 cm to 1.34 m. The head is bluntly rounded, smoothly passing into the body. The eyes are small, the nostrils are moderately large. Poison fangs are small. The body is cylindrical, slender, the tail is rather short, tapering at the end. It has 219–243 abdominal and 32–42 caudal shields.
The color is dark brown, steel blue or black with 15-28 transverse narrow white stripes throughout the body. The throat and nape are white, the muzzle is black, and there are cream rings on the belly.
This is a dangerous snake. The poison is powerful, causes pain, respiratory failure. Without proper medical care, a person is likely to die.
Lifestyle
Inhabits humid wooded and mountainous areas. It occurs at an altitude of 750-1000 m above sea level . Active at night, during the day hides in the holes of rodents , under logs, stones. It feeds on mice , frogs , geckos , skinks and lizards .
Reproduction
This is an egg laying snake. The female lays 4-10 eggs. In January-June, young kraits 20–25 cm long appear.
Distribution
It is an endemic of Sri Lanka .
Subspecies
- Bungarus ceylonicus ceylonicus Günther, 1864
- Bungarus ceylonicus karavala Deraniyagala, 1955 [2]
Notes
- ↑ Ananyeva N. B. , Borkin L. Ya. , Darevsky I.S. , Orlov N.L. The five-language dictionary of animal names. Amphibians and reptiles. Latin, Russian, English, German, French. / edited by Acad. V. E. Sokolova . - M .: Rus. Yaz., 1988 .-- S. 348. - 10,500 copies. - ISBN 5-200-00232-X .
- ↑ The Reptile Database: Bungarus ceylonicus (English)
Literature
- Günther, 1864: The reptiles of British India. London, Taylor & Francis, p. 1-452.
- Deraniyagala, 1955: A colored atlas of some vertebrates from Ceylon , vol. 3, p. 1-121.
- Das, I. & De Silva, A. 2005. Photographic guide to snakes and other reptiles of Sri Lanka . New Holland Publishers, 144 pp.