Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
him, though without success, that he had not been bitten. The next morning he did not
get up, and his companions could not rouse him. The hospital assistant was sent for
and found him comatose
…
he expired along the way. Captain Sumner here examined
the body, and could find no local signs of the bite, and was much perplexed as to the
cause of death. The snake was put into a bottle
…
To my surprise I found the author
of the mischief was a common kukri snake, 1 foot 71/2 inches long. It seems to me that
the man must have died of fright, believing himself bitten”
(Wall, 1921, p. 233). Thus, Wall (1921) noted his own doubt regarding the actual
disposition of this unfortunate case. Wall (1913) provides other examples of patients
dying unaccountably after bites by
X. piscator
and
L. aulicus
. Deeply ingrained com-
munal fear of a particular animal can result in dramatic symptoms after bites, in the
absence of any evidence that the animal is in any way venomous. In the Turkana
region of northern Kenya, bites by Ruppell's agama lizard (
Agama ruppelli ori-
entalis
) are feared even more than bites by saw-scaled vipers (
Echis pyramidum
).
Bitten patients may appear extremely ill or even comatose (MacCabe, 2009). Around
Freeport, West Papua, the blue-tongued skink (
Tiliqua gigas
) is feared more than the
death adder (
Acanthophis
spp.; DAW, personal communication; see also pp. 77; sec-
tion 4.5.2 and 4.4.7). These cases further illustrate the power of psyche in the genera-
tion of symptomatology.
An alternative explanation is that the snake found in the man's bedclothes was not
responsible for the bite which, given circumstances, was far more likely to have been a
krait (
Bungarus
spp.,
Plate 4.64
). There are no grounds for supposing that
O. arnensis
has venom or venom apparatus capable of causing fatal envenomation in humans.
4.3.4.3 A Fatal Bite by
Xenodon severus
?
There is a single obscure report (Orcés, 1948) of an alleged fatality from a bite by
X. severus
(Amazon false-Fer-de-Lance; Plate 4.59C; see also Plate 4.59A and B). To
date, we have been unable to obtain a complete copy of the original report, and further
efforts are underway to fully evaluate this case. In addition, the website for Instituto de
Investigación Biológica de las Cordilleras Orientales
12
states the following:
The Yacu-jergon,
Xenodon severus
, is possibly extremely toxic: there are hospital
records of bitings contributed to this very aggressive and somewhat common snake
which showed severe effects-campesinos mention that this snake kills persons (sic).
Therefore, the very limited information about the toxic potential of this species is
purely unsubstantiated anecdote and rumor without verifiable provenance. There is
currently insufficient evidence for critical evaluation of any possible risk associated
with this species. The single recorded case briefly described uncomplicated, minor,
local effects (Quelch, 1893;
Table 4.1
).
