Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 4.66
Masked or puff-faced water snake; ular kadut (
Homalopsis buccata
),
Thailand.
These snakes are members of the family, Homalopsidae, and range fairly widely in
the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. They favor aquatic or semiaquatic habitats, and
are often found in estuarine habitats. The specimen shown was killed by the bitten victim who
suffered no medically significant effects.
Photo copyright to David A. Warrell.
4.1.1.5 Sri Lanka
In a national survey of snakebite in Sri Lanka, the dead or living snake responsible
was brought to the hospital by 860 bitten patients (Ariaratnam et al., 2009). In 94
cases (11% of the total) the snakes were nine non-front-fanged colubroid species: 48
wolf snakes (15
Lycodon striatus sinhalayus
and 33
L. aulicus
), 10 green vine snakes
(
Ahaetulla nasuta
), 14 cat snakes (eight
Boiga forsteni
, four
Boiga trigonata trigonata
,
and two
Boiga ceylonensis
), 11 rat snakes (
Ptyas mucosus
), six kukri snakes (
Oligodon
arnensis
), one trinket snake (
Elaphe helena
), three
X. piscator
, and one ornate tree or
flying snake (
Chrysopelea ornate ornata
). None of these bites was associated with sys-
temic or significant local envenoming. Cat snakes [
Boiga ceylonensis
(Sri Lankan or
Ceylon cat snake; nidi mapila), and
B. trigonata trigonata
(Gamma or common cat
snake; ran mapila)] were twice misidentified as hump-nosed pit vipers (
Hypnale hyp-
nale
;
Plate 4.68
), as were Russell's vipers (
Daboia russelii
) three times, and as was
a saw-scaled viper (
Echis carinatus
;
Plate 4.69A and B
) once. Wolf snakes (
L. auli-
cus
and
L. striatus sinhalayus
) were misidentified as common kraits five times, and rat
snakes as cobras twice. Antivenom was given inappropriately on 13 occasions because
a nonvenomous species or a
H. hypnale
had been mistaken for one of the four species
covered by Indian polyspecific antivenom (Ariaratnam et al., 2009). In Sri Lanka,
B.
forsteni
(in Sinhala, naga or le mapila) is feared because of the myth that they hang
down from the ceiling and suck the blood of sleeping humans. However, effects of
bites are mild and localized. Similarly, the green vine or whip snake,
Ahaetulla nasuta
(in Sinhala, ahaetulla/ahata gulla/as gulla—meaning “eye plucker”) is reputed to pluck
out the eyes of humans, as first alluded to by a Portuguese traveler João Ribeiro in
1685 (Ribeiro, 1989). Its bite causes only mild local effects (De Silva and Aloysius,
1983;
Table 4.1
).
