Many-banded krait

The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia. The species was first described by the scientist Edward Blyth in 1861. Averaging in length, it is a black or bluish-black snake with many white bands across its body. The many-banded krait mostly inhabits marshy areas throughout its geographical distribution, though it does occur in other habitat types. Zoologist and pharmacist Edward Blyth described the many-banded krait as a new species in 1861, noting that it had many more bands than the banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus). It still bears its original name Bungarus multicinctus. The generic name is a Latinisation of Telugu baṅgāru, "krait." The specific name multicinctus is derived from the Latin multi-, combining form of multus, "much, many", and Latin cinctus, past participle of cingere, "to encircle"—as in a "band". The common name "krait" is from Hindi (करैत karait), which is perhaps ultimately derived from the Sanskrit word (काल kāla), which means "black". It is also called as "கட்டுவிரியன்" in Tamil, a common name given to the genus Bungarus. This species has two subspecies, the nominate Bungarus multicinctus multicinctus, and Bungarus multicinctus wanghaotingi. American herpetologist Clifford H. Pope described Bungarus wanghaotingi in 1928 from a specimen from southwestern Yunnan Province collected in November, 1926 by a Walter Granger. Naming it for zoological artist Mr. Wang Hao-t'ing, of Beijing, he distinguished it from B. multicinctus by its more numerous dorsal bands and from B. candidus by its higher ventral scale count. This taxon is also found in Myanmar, in Kachin State, Rakhine State and Sagaing Division. Herpetologist Alan Leviton and colleagues suspect there are further undescribed taxa within the species complex. Mao et al.