Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm curious to know if anybody here can ID this. I'm pretty sure I know what it is but somethings don't seem right. I guess this is something of a quiz so I won't start off saying where I found it and see if you draw the same conclusion I did.

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My intial thought was N. kaouthia (Suphan phase) or maybe N. atra. Does it Spit and where is does it hail from?

Scott Eipper

N atra was our initial thought only because it was found on the island of chep lep kok in hong kong. i've never seen one like it. whats more interesting is that the island was completly destroyed over 10 years ago. it was three small islands, now its just a large airport with a small undeveloped corner. over 5 years ago a small blindsnake was believed to be the last snake on the entire island...its a miracle this thing has survived

I would send the image to Wolfgang Wuster to confirm.

Regards,

Scott Eipper

it is N. naja atra.
I found some breeders who have seen similar but not quite the same. The interesting thing about the islands of Hong Kong is the varience. Each island is isolated from all the others that have the same species for so long that mutations are island specific.

Looking at the scale rows around the hood (27) and the shape of the hood, I'd say N. atra. In any case, N. atra is the only cobra found anywhere near HK in the wild, but the fact that it was found near an airport obviously opens up the possibility that the snake is an escapee from some consignment elsewhere in Asia.

The hood marks and patterns of both N. atra and N. kaouthia are very variable, this sort of pattern can be found in both species.

For more info, including diagnostic scale counts, see link below.

Cheers,

WW
Asiatic Naja Systematics Page

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