Demansia
Demansia
Genus of snakes
Demansia is a genus of venomous snakes of the family Elapidae. Members of the genus are commonly known as whip snakes or whipsnakes, as are members of several other genera.
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| Demansia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Demansia psammophis, yellow-faced whip snake | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Subfamily: | Hydrophiinae |
| Genus: | Demansia Gray, 1842 |
All species of the genus Demansia are gray, brown, gray-green, or beige, save for Demansia psammophis (yellow-faced whip snake), which may be cream-coloured. Whip snakes are long and slender. They have large eyes and relatively small heads that are only slightly wider than their bodies. All species in the genus Demansia are venomous.
Whip snakes of the genus Demansia are found in Australia, Papua New Guinea in the area around Port Moresby, and nearby islands.
Demansia whip snakes eat mainly lizards. They are diurnal (active in the day) and use their keen eyesight to hunt. Their prey dies quickly from the effects of the snake's venom.
In 2007 a man died after being bitten by a whip snake in Victoria. Their bites are generally regarded as akin to a bee sting and relatively harmless, but the man became woozy and went into cardiac arrest before paramedics arrived.[1]
The following 15 species are recognized as being valid.[2]
- Demansia angusticeps (Macleay, 1888) – narrow-headed whipsnake
- Demansia calodera Storr, 1978 – black-necked whipsnake
- Demansia cyanochasma Nankivell, Maryan, Bush & Hutchinson, 2023 – desert whipsnake
- Demansia flagellatio Wells & Wellington, 1985 – long-tailed whipsnake
- Demansia olivacea (Gray, 1842) – olive whipsnake
- Demansia papuensis (Macleay, 1877) – greater black whipsnake
- Demansia psammophis (Schlegel, 1837) – yellow-faced whipsnake
- Demansia quaesitor Shea, 2007 – sombre whipsnake
- Demansia reticulata (Gray, 1842) – reticulated whipsnake
- Demansia rimicola Scanlon, 2007 – soil-crack whipsnake
- Demansia rufescens Storr, 1978 – rufous whip snake
- Demansia shinei Shea, 2007 – Shine's whipsnake
- Demansia simplex Storr, 1978 – grey whipsnake
- Demansia torquata (Günther, 1862) – collared whipsnake
- Demansia vestigiata (De Vis, 1884) – lesser black whipsnake
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Demansia.
- Harrison, Dan (17 April 2007). "'Harmless' snake proves deadly". The Age. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
- Genus Demansia at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- Gray JE (1842). "Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian Reptiles and Batrachians". Zoological Miscellany 2: 51-57. (Demansia, new genus, p. 54).