Question? Venomouse egg layers

[Tullick]

Hello,

Today day I went to a melb cup trivia day. One question that was asked was, How many venomous snakes in Australia lay eggs? I had no clue to be honest. The answer they gave was.

There are 22 venomous snakes in Australia and only 2 lay eggs. Is this true? Also if only to lay eggs what two are they? Also why is it that venomous snake bear live young?

I'm asking because I know very little about snakes in general.
Thanks for taking the time to reply cheers.

 

[Elapid]

.

Also if only to lay eggs what two are they?

Taipans

 

[Elapid]

Western browns also lay eggs

 

[Jonno from ERD]

Hello,

Today day I went to a melb cup trivia day. One question that was asked was, How many venomous snakes in Australia lay eggs? I had no clue to be honest. The answer they gave was.

There are 22 venomous snakes in Australia and only 2 lay eggs. Is this true? Also if only to lay eggs what two are they? Also why is it that venomous snake bear live young?

I'm asking because I know very little about snakes in general.
Thanks for taking the time to reply cheers.

G'day Tullick,

Basically the facts you received are wrong. There are approximately 100 venomous snakes in Australia, of which about 25 are dangerous to humans. Of the well known species, the following are egg layers -

Pseudonaja (Brown Snakes - 8 species)
Oxyuranus (Taipans - 3 species)
Pseudechis (Black Snakes apart from Red Bellies - approximately 5 species)

And the following are live bearers -

Acanthophis (Death Adders - minimum of 4 species)
Notechis - (Tiger Snakes - 1 species)
Austrelaps - (Copperheads - 3 species)
Pseudechis porphyriachus (Red Bellied Black Snakes)
Hoplocephalus (Broad Headed Snakes)

As a guide, snakes that have the majority of their distribution in the northern third of Australia are egg layers, and snakes that have the majority of their distribution in the southern third are live bearers.

 

[Tullick]

G'day Tullick,

Basically the facts you received are wrong. There are approximately 100 venomous snakes in Australia, of which about 25 are dangerous to humans. Of the well known species, the following are egg layers -

Pseudonaja (Brown Snakes - 8 species)
Oxyuranus (Taipans - 3 species)
Pseudechis (Black Snakes apart from Red Bellies - approximately 5 species)

And the following are live bearers -


Acanthophis (Death Adders - minimum of 4 species)
Notechis - (Tiger Snakes - 1 species)
Austrelaps - (Copperheads - 3 species)
Pseudechis porphyriachus (Red Bellied Black Snakes)
Hoplocephalus (Broad Headed Snakes)

As a guide, snakes that have the majority of their distribution in the northern third of Australia are egg layers, and snakes that have the majority of their distribution in the southern third are live bearers.

Thanks Jonno for the detailed information.
I appreciate the time you took to give me so much detailed information
Cheers

 

[solar 17]

Taipans ?????

Hey Jonno..l 'll put my hand up, whats the [3] types of taipans' l and l bet a few others were only aware of [2].....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Acrochordus]

Hey Jonno..l 'll put my hand up, whats the [3] types of taipans' l and l bet a few others were only aware of [2].....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

I can answer that the 3 are:
Inland Taipan Oxyuranus microlepidotus
Coastal Taipan Oxyuranus scutellatus
Central Ranges Taipan Oxyuranus temporalis
Thanks Tim.

 

[solar 17]

Taipans

Thanks Tim......cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Jonno from ERD]

G'day Baden,

As Tim said, there was a new species of Taipan found in Western Australia, near the NT border a couple of years ago. Presumably it is oviparous like the other two Taipans.

 

[Just_Joshin]

The Majority of vens that are live bearers, Tullick, did so as an evolutionary response to the colder climate. Trying incubate eggs in a cold climate is rather difficult. It also has to do with the lineage in which they evolved from.

 

[m.punja]

G'day Baden,

As Tim said, there was a new species of Taipan found in Western Australia, near the NT border a couple of years ago. Presumably it is oviparous like the other two Taipans.

Was just about to ask who'd bred them

 

[wizz]

Central Ranges Taipan Oxyuranus temporalis here is the link

Oxyuranus temporalis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[m.punja]

Everyone is forgetting a snake. C'mon, there's one more.

 

[redbellybite]

Everyone is forgetting a snake. C'mon, there's one more.

Tropidechis carinatus ,,,the roughie

 

[moosenoose]

Brown tree snakes?? Not what I'd call venomous, except they are :lol:

 

[m.punja]

bingo, moose wins on a tecnicality

 

[redbellybite]

Brown tree snakes?? Not what I'd call venomous, except they are :lol:

well was aiming at elapid now ... and I thought we was including ovoviviparous and oviparous ...

 

[trickedoutz31]

what about whip snakes???

 

[moosenoose]

what about whip snakes???

Good call also

 

[Jonno from ERD]

If you wanted to get technical you could include Varanids too

And I didn't include all the other elapids as they either aren't regarded as potentially lethal or well known.