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Dear All,

As an avid read of Nitro Express I have enjoyed the recent snake pics and discussion as I am a professional herpetologist (=reptile and amphibian scientist)and fan of British doubles. One of my specialties is the ecology of tropical snakes about which I have been published in scientific literature. I would like to make the following points.

1. Fierce Snakes/Inland Taipans (Oxyuranus microlepidotus)have never been shown to grow to over three meters. Though sample sizes were small (n=19), Shine & Covacevich (1983)recorded the average length to be 1320mm for males and 1438mm for females, with the maximum recorded adults being only 1700mm. However they probably grow a little larger than this recorded maximum and if anyone has any proof of this, I would love to see it.

2. Coastal Taipans (Oxyuranus scutellatus) have never been shown to grow anywhere near four meters. Shine & Covacevich (1983) examined a large sample (n=78) and found the average size to be 1564mm for males and 1450mm for females, with the maximum recorded for adults being only 2260mm. Coastal Taipans do grow a little larger than this (an old friend of mine had one that was 2900mm long and weighed 6.2 kg!). This specimen died and currently resides in the QLD Museum as the largest Coastal Taipan ever recorded, though remember it is a captive animal. Once again if anyone has any proof of a Coastal Taipan over three meters, I would love to see it.

3. The largest snake ever reliably measured in Australia was a Scrub/Amethystine Python (Morelia kinghorni)that was caught at Palm Cove, Cairns, North Queensland. It measured 5651mm long and weighed 24kg (Fearn & Sambono, 2000). It is quite possible that Scrub Pythons can grow a little larger than this and if anyone has proof I would love to see it.

Here are the following references for the snake data I have presented. If anyone would like a copy of these articles please feel free to pm me and I can get your email to send a PDF.

Shine, R. & Covacevich, J. (1983). Ecology of highly venomous snakes: the Australian genus Oxyuranus (Elapidae). Journal of Herpetology. 17(1):60-69.

Fearn, S. & Sambono, J. (2000). A reliable size record for the Scrub Python (Morelia amethistina) (Serpentes: Pythondiae) in North East Queensland. Herpetofauna. 30(1):2-6.

Lets keep this thread going, for starters does anyone have pictures of exceptionally large King Brown/Mulga Snakes (Pseudechis australis) they may have seen.

From, Dane

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