The Papuan black snake is a venomous snake of the family Elapidae native to New Guinea. Reaching around 2 m in length, it is a predominantly black snake coloured grey underneath.
A solidly built snake with a wide round head and slight neck, the Papuan black snake is ranges from 1.2 to 1.7 m, with occasional individuals exceeding 2 m long. The longest specimen recorded was 2.44 m. The head and upperparts are dull or glossy black, or occasionally dark brown, and underparts are blue-grey or gunmetal grey. The neck is whitish with yellow and grey tinges. The labial scales are sometimes pale around the mouth and front of head.
The range is southern New Guinea, both in Papua New Guinea and West Papua province of Indonesia, as well as offshore islands. In Papua New Guinea, it has possibly already vanished from Port Moresby and Central Province and is declining in Western Province. It just enters Australian territory as it occurs on Boigu and Saibai Islands in far northern Torres Strait off the New Guinea coast. Destruction of its habitat, killing of snakes by locals, and poisoning by the introduced cane toad have contributed to its decline.
Venom
The venom of the Papuan black snake is the most potent of all members of the black snake genus Pseudechis. Unlike those of other black snakes, the venom is predominantly neurotoxic in its effects, with muscle weakness and paralysis ensuing over 2 to 21 hours after being bitten. This can be life-threatening and intubation may be required. It is slightly more toxic than the equatorial spitting cobra and three times less toxic than that of the taipan. A postsynaptic neurotoxin isolated has been given the name of papuantoxin-1, and can be treated with CSL black snake antivenom. Although widely feared in Papua New Guinea's Central Province, it is responsible for only a small minority of snakebites, eclipsed by the more dangerous taipan. Identifying snakes after snakebite can be difficult as victims are often bitten while walking through long kunai grass and hence the snake is not seen clearly.The Mekeo people know it as auguma, "to bite again", from its habit of repeatedly biting. Some local people in New Guinea believe it and the taipan to be opposite sexes of the same species. The Kiwai people believe the snake to be an agent of a magic-man known as Ove-devenor who sends it to kill enemies. People bitten will often seek out another magic-man instead of going to a hospital, thus dangerously delaying treatment. The first to extract Papuan black snake venom for scientific purposes was Australian herpetologistKen Slater in the mid-1950s. He sent it to the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne for antivenom research.
