Genus Pseudechis Wagler, 1830

Museums

Regional Maps

• Pseudechis Wagler, J.G. 1830. Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugethiere und Vögel. München : Cotta'schen vi 354 pp. [171].

  Type species:

   Coluber porphyricus [sic] Shaw, 1794 by monotypy.
• Alecto Wagler, J.G. 1830. Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugethiere und Vögel. München : Cotta'schen vi 354 pp. [173].

  Type species:

   Trimeresurus leptocephalus Lacépède, 1804 by monotypy.
• Pseudechys Stirling, E.C. & Zietz, A. 1893. Vertebrata; Reptilia (collected by the Elder Exploring Expedition). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 16: 159-176 [175] [lapsus pro Pseudechis Wagler, 1830].
• Cannia Wells, R.W. & Wellington, C.R. 1984. A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology 1(3-4): 73-129 [1983 on title page] [108].

  Type species:

   Naja australis Gray, 1842 by original designation.
• Panacedechis Wells, R.W. & Wellington, C.R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology Supplementary Series 1: 1-61 [Date published September, 1985] [47].

  Type species:

   Pseudechis colletti Boulenger, 1902 by original designation.
• Pailsus Hoser, R. 1998. A new snake from Queensland, Australia (Serpentes: Elapidae). Monitor (Journal of the Victorian Herpetological Society) 10(1): 5-9, 31 [5].

  Type species:

   Pailsus pailsei Hoser, 1998 by original designation.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mackay, R.D. 1955. A revision of the genus Pseudechis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 1953–54: 15-23
• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [230]

Introduction

Pseudechis Wagler, 1830 is a genus of medium to large snakes, all rather similar in their appearance. Despite they are commonly named "black snakes", only two species are regularly black coloured while the others show more brownish colourations.
Several authors (Mengden et al. 1986; Kuch et al. 2005; Wüster et al. 2005) have analyzed the relationships within the genus, all identifying three major groups: the viviparous red-bellied black snake P. porphyriacus (Shaw, 1794) forming the sister species to two other groups consisting of the remaining ovoviviparous species . It also turned out that the wide ranging and morphologically variable P. australis (Gray, 1842) was actually a complex with a high degree of genetic diversity. The validity of a number of species belonging to this complex has been subject of debate among herpetologists (for a list of species and their status see Cogger 2014).
Recently Maddock (2016) have provided a comprehensive molecular analysis of Pseudechis that confirms the existence of three main groups and better assesses the species boundaries thus helping to stabilize the nomenclature of the most controversial species. This article also highlights the existence of one still undescribed taxon from Northern Territory, more closely related to P. pailsei (Hoser, 1998: see this species for further comments).

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Wet Tropics (WT) ; ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Flinders (FLI), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP) ; NSW, NT, Qld, SA, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Channel Country (CHC), Central Kimberley (CK), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Finke (FIN), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), MacDonnell Ranges (MAC), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Sturt Plateau (STU), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Yalgoo (YAL)

Other Regions

Torres Strait Islands terrestrial, marine & freshwater

General References

Cogger, H.G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Collingwood : CSIRO publishing 7th edition, pp. xxx+1033. [915-921]

Kuch, U., Keogh, J.S., Weigel, J., Smith, L.A. & Mebs, D. 2005. Phylogeography of Australia’s king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) reveals Pliocene divergence and Pleistocene dispersal of a top predator. Naturwissenschaften 92: 121–127

Maddock, S.T., Childerstone, A., Fry, B.G., Williams, D.J., Barlow, A. & Wüster, W. 2016. Multi-locus phylogeny and species delimitation of Australo-Papuan blacksnakes (Pseudechis Wagler, 1830: Elapidae: Serpentes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 107: 48-55

Mengden, G.A., Shine, R. & Moritz, C. 1986. Phylogenetic relationships within the Australian venomous snakes of the genus Pseudechis. Herpetologica 42: 215-229

Wüster, W., Dumbrell, A.J., Hay, C., Pook, C.E., Williams, D.J. and Grieg, B. 2005. Snakes across the strait: trans-torresian phylogeographic relationships in three genera of Australasian snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Acanthophis, Oxyuranus and Pseudechis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34(1): 1-14

History of changes