Chapter-i origins Why are snakes called reptiles? What is a reptile?

Which are the venomous snakes of India and how common and how dangerous are they?

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
1	Himalayan keelback (Rhabdophis himalayanus)	The eastern Himalayas from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh	Common	It has no venom but has highly toxic saliva	Not many cases known	Severe reactions known from one case
2	Red-necked keelback (Rhabdophis subminiatus)	Eastern Himalayas from Sikkm and Assam to Arunachal Pradesh.	Common	It has no venom but has highly toxic saliva.	Not many cases known	Severe symptoms
3	Himalayan krait (Bungarus bungaroides)	Eastern Himalayas(Darjeeling district,;Sikkim); Assam(Khasi Hills); Cachar	Rare	NA But kraits generally have potent venom	NA	NA
4	Banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus)	West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Assam upwards to Arunachal Pradesh, parts of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Northern Andhra Pradesh and U.P.	Common	Potent but not as potent as No.5	Rare. Reluctant to bite	One case of death known.
5	Common krait (Bungarus caeruleus)	Most of mainland India.	Common	Highly potent	Many cases	Many fatalities
6	Andaman krait (Bungarus andamanensis)	Andaman Islands	Uncommon	N.A. But kraits generally have potent venom	Not many known	No fatalities known.

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
7	Black krait (Bungarus niger)	Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh	Rare	N.A. But kraits generally have potent venom	N.A.	N.A.
8	Wall’s Sind krait (Bungarus sindanus walli)	Gangetic plain, Central and Western India—Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Bengal	Rare	N.A. But may be as toxic as of No.5	N.A.	N.A.
9	Lesser black krait (Bungarus lividus)	West Bengal, Assam, Eastern Himalayas.	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
10	Slender coral snake (Calliophis melanurus)	Probably most of Peninsular India. Definite records from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamilnadu. Also West Bengal	Rare	Mild	A few known	Slight swelling and itching.
11	Striped coral snake (Calliophis nigrescens)	Western Ghats (Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra) and Gujarat.	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
12	Beddome’s coral snake (Calliophis beddomei)	Shevaroy hills (Tamilnadu) and Karnataka.	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
13	Macclelland’s coral snake (Sinomicrurus macclellandi)	Northeast India from Darjeeling to Arunachal Pradesh.	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
14	Bibron’s coral snake (Calliophis bibroni)	Western Ghats as far north as Coorg	Uncommon	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
15	Spectacled cobra (Naja naja)	Throughout mainland India	Common	Highly toxic	Many cases	Severe. Only a small percentage of bites are fatal because not enough venom gets injected.
16	Monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia)	North and eastern India from Haryana, most of the Gangetic plains, West Bengal, Orissa, Sikkim, Assam to Arunachal Pradesh. Probably in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also.	Common	Highly toxic	Many cases	Severe. Only a small percentage of bites are fatal because not enough venom gets injected.
17	Andaman cobra (Naja sagittifera)	Andaman Islands	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
18	Central Asian cobra (Naja oxiana)	Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh. Probably in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat also.	Rare	N.A.	No record of bites from India.	N.A.

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
19	King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)	Western Ghats (Karnataka, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu), UP, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, the Northeast to Arunachal Pradesh and the Andaman Islands.	Rare	Less toxic than No.15 and 16. But capable of injecting a large dose of venom.	Rare	Four deaths in the last 30 years all from South India.
20	Common sea krait (Laticauda laticaudata)	Off Kolkata coast and Nicobar Islands	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
21	Yellow-lipped sea krait (Laticauda colubrina)	Andaman and Nicobar Islands	Common	Very potent	A few known	“One or two deaths reported”
22	Jerdon’s sea snake (Kerilia jerdonii)	West coast (Kerala), East Coast from Chennai to Puri	Uncommon	N.A.	N.A.	No fatalities reported
23	Viperine sea snake (Praescutata viperina)	Indian coasts	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
24	Hook-nosed sea snake (Enhydrina schistosa)	Indian coasts.	Common	Highly potent	Rare	Deaths reported
25	Black-banded sea snake (Hydrophis nigrocinctus)	Bay of Bengal(Sundarbans)	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
26	Yellow sea snake (Hydrophis spiralis)	East Coast and occasionally on West Coast.	Common	N.A.	Fatalities reported from outside India	N.A.
27	Annulated sea snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus)	Indian coasts.	Uncommon	N.A.	N.A.	Fatalities reported
28	Estuarine sea snake (Hydrophis obscurus)	East Coast of India	Common	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
29	Bengal sea snake (Hydrophis stricticollis)	East Coast of India, north of Orissa	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.	Fatalities reported
30	Cochin banded sea snake (Hydrophis ornatus)	Coasts of India	Rare	High	A few known	Fatalities reported
31	Persian Gulf sea snake (Hydrophis lapemoides)	Coasts of India.	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
32	Bombay Gulf sea snake (Hydrophis mamillaris)	Coasts of India	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
33	Malacca sea snake (Hydrophis caerulescens)	Between Mumbai and Karwar on the West Coast and from Chennai northwards to mouth of the Ganges on East Coast	Uncommon	N.A.	Generally inoffensive, but will bite if provoked	Fatalities reported

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
34	Banded sea snake (Hydrophis fasciatus)	Coasts of India	Common	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
35	Short sea snake (Lapemis curtus)	Coastal waters (more common on the West Coast)	Uncommon	Venom very toxic	Fatalities reported	Fatalities reported
36	Large-headed sea snake (Astrotia stokesii)	Bay of Bengal.	Rare	High	N.A.	N.A.
37	Common small-headed sea snake (Hydrophis gracilis)	Gujarat and coasts of India	Common	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
38	Cantor’s narrow-headed sea snake (Hydrophis cantoris)	Western Coast of India.	Common	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
39	Black & yellow sea snake (Pelamis platurus)	Indian coastal waters and Andaman & Nicobar Islands	Uncommon	N.A.	Usually inoffensive- bites if handled	One death known from Sri Lanka

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
40	Russel’s viper (Daboia russelii)	Throughout India.	Common	Potent	“..they cause as many, or more, snakebites than cobras”(Whitaker and Captain)	“Usually not fatal” (Whitaker & Captain) but life-threatening
41	Levantine viper (Macrovipera lebetina)	A few localities in Kashmir including Srinagar and Dachigam.	Uncommon	Toxic venom but not much known	N.A.	No known fatalities from India
42	Saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus)	Throughout mainland India except West Bengal and the Northeast.	Common	Very toxic	Many cases	Many fatalities
43	Himalayan pit viper (Gloydius himalayanus)	The Western Himalayas – Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Northern Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal	Common in parts of range	Not particularly toxic	A few known	Localized pain and swelling, No fatalities reported

Sl. No.	Common name and Scientific name	Distribution Range	Status within its distribution range	Potency of venom	Incidence of bites	Effect of bites
44	Hump-nosed pit viper (Hypnale hypnale)	TheWestern Ghats as far North as Belgaum	Common	Quite toxic	A few known	Considerable swelling and pain. Life-threatening symptoms. But no fatalities reported from India.
45	Large-scaled pit viper (Trimeresurus macrolepis)	South India	Common	Not very toxic	N.A.	Local pain and swelling. No fatalities reported.
46	Brown-spotted pit viper (Protobothrops mucrosquamatus)	Assam (the Naga Hills)	Rare	N.A.	N.A.	N.A.
47	Mountain pit viper (Ovophis monticola)	Uttaranchal, Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland to East Arunchal Pradesh	Common	Little is known	A few known	Much pain. Swelling and continuous bleeding. No fatalities recorded in India.