Misplaced Pages

Ophiophagus kaalinga

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Species of snake

Ophiophagus kaalinga
From Agumbe, Karnataka, India.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Ophiophagus
Species: O. kaalinga
Binomial name
Ophiophagus kaalinga
Gowri Shankar, Das & Ganesh, 2024

Ophiophagus kaalinga, the Western Ghats king cobra, is a species of King cobra endemic to the Western Ghats of south-western India.

Description

Ophiophagus kaalinga is characterized by pale bands without darker edges on adult snakes, unlike the unbanded O. salvatana and the banded O. hannah, which has dark edges. Additionally, O. kaalinga has fewer pterygoid teeth (12) compared to O. hannah (18–21). Juvenile O. kaalinga also has 28–48 fewer body bands than O. salvatana.

Etymology

Juvenile

The specific epithet kaalinga comes from the Kannada language of Karnataka, India, meaning "dark" or "black" (from 'Kali' or 'Kari' ). It is an abbreviated form of "Kaalinga Sarpa," which is associated with Lord Shiva.

Distribution and Ecology

Ophiophagus kaalinga is endemic to the Western Ghats in southwestern India, found in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and parts of Maharashtra. Its range extends from the Ashambu hills near Kanyakumari through various mountain ranges, including the Agasthyamalai and Cardamom hills, reaching elevations of about 100 m to 1800 m above sea level. The species is hill-dwelling and thrives in mid-elevation rainforests (500–900 m) but can also be found in lower foothills and montane forests.

Conservation

As a member of the king cobra family, the Western Ghats king cobra is also considered as "vulnerable" under the IUCN Red List.

References

  1. ^ Das, Indraneil; Gowri Shankar, P.; Swamy, Priyanka; Williams, Rhiannon C.; Lalremsanga, Hmar Tlawmte; Prashanth, P.; Sahoo, Gunanidhi; Vijayakumar, S.P.; Höglund, Jacob; Shanker, Kartik; Dutta, Sushil K.; Ganesh, S.R.; Wüster, Wolfgang (2024). "Taxonomic revision of the king cobra Ophiophagus hannah (Cantor, 1836) species complex (Reptilia: Serpentes: Elapidae), with the description of two new species". European Journal of Taxonomy (961): 1–51. doi:10.5852/ejt.2024.961.2681.
  2. Dasgupta, Shreya (2024-10-21). "Four of a kind: King cobra is a quad of species, not one, study finds". Mongabay Environmental News. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  3. Ghai, Rajat (2024-10-18). "Long live the King Cobra(s): Scientists recategorise world's longest venomous snakes into 4 distinct species, with one from the Western Ghats". Down To Earth. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  4. Pflughoeft, Aspen. "Venomous 10-foot-long snake found in hills of India and discovered as new species". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  5. Hestermann, Bethanie (2024-10-18). "Scientists Discover New Large, 'Dangerously Venomous' Snakes". Outdoors with Bear Grylls. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
  6. Hestermann, Bethanie (2024-10-22). "New king cobra species in Luzon identified". GMA News Online. Retrieved 2024-10-23.
Stub icon

This snake article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: