Calliophis bivirgatus

Blue Malaysian Coral Snake
File:CalliophisBivirgatusFlaviceps62BluCoral2006ByJBulian 7o7.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Calliophis
Species:	C. bivirgatus
Binomial name
Calliophis bivirgatus (Boie, 1827)

The Blue Malaysian Coral Snake, Calliophis bivirgatus, is a venomous elapid snake found in Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. It was first identified in print by Friedrich Boie in 1827.

Description

This is medium sized Coral Snake with slender body. Adults are usually 140 cm (4 ft 7 in) in length, though larger specimen had been captured. Color of this species is indigo or deep blue with light blue or white stripes along each side of the body. Head, venter, tail of this species are usually bright red. It has a blunt snout with a pair of small eyes onsides of the head.

This species, especially the juveniles, is often confused with the Pink-headed Reed Snake (Calamaria schlegeli) as they share similar habitat and appearance. But the latter is much smaller than fully grown Calliophis bivirgatus (max. 50 cm). And it may be dangerous to confuse these two species as the Reed Snake is a non-venomous snake while the Blue Malaysian coral snake is proved to be lethal.

Distribution and habitat

The Blue Malaysian coral snake is found in Malaysia, Thailand & western Indonesia. It inhabits humid conditions, such as forest floor.

Behavior

This species is most active at night. Like the Banded Krait, it is a timid snake during daytime and tends to avoid confrontation. However, it becomes more alert after nightfall. People are usually bitten at night when they pass by the snake unawared.

Like the Coral Snake in the New World, they defence by displaying their bright-colored body. The Blue Malaysian coral snake would also turn upside down to show their red belly to warn predator. They would also hide their head under coils and raise their tail to mimic as head to confuse predator.

Diet

The Blue Malaysian coral snake almost feeds exclusively on other snakes, including their own kind. They occasionally consume lizards, frogs and birds.

Venom

The venom of Maticora bivirgata (also known as Calliophis bivirgatus) was fractionated into five fractions, S1-S5, by passing through a Sephadex G-50 column. Fraction S2 contains two phospholipases A2, PLA2 I and PLA2 II, fraction S3 contains four cytotoxin homologues, maticotoxins A, C, D1 and D2, and fractions S4 and S5 contain a large amount (about 1 mg/specimen) of adenosine accompanied with smaller amounts of inosine and guanosine. The amino-terminal amino acid sequences of PLA2, I, PLA2 II and maticotoxin A suggest that Maticora bivirgata is closely related to Bungarinae, especially to genera Hemachatus and Naja.

Venom of this species is very potent and had caused some number of death within its range. Death can be resulted as soon as 5 minutes. Like other Elapidae, the Blue Malaysian coral snake is primarily neurotixic. Bite from this species has few or even no symptoms. After several minutes of the bite, the victim may feel numbness near the wound and lip. Soon, the victim may feel difficulty in breathing. Death will be the result of respiratory failure.

References

• Calliophis bivirgatus BOIE, 1827, The Reptile Database