Lookalike snakes but with self-styled venoms

Kraits (genus Bungarus) are distributed throughout Asia from Pakistan to southern China and southward into Indonesia. The genus consists of 12 species.
Krait venom contains β-bungarotoxin, a presynaptic blocker which causes muscle paralysis.
They are terrestrial, feeding mainly on other snakes but also on frogs, lizards, and small mammals. Kraits are nocturnal hunters and are dangerous to humans only when stepped on or otherwise strongly provoked.
Common kraits are most frequent and lethal. It is a nocturnal terrestrial snake living close to human dwellings and the bites happen mostly at night where people sleep on the floor in mud huts.

- A recent study by Indian Institute of Science on kraits in southern and western India has found new species of kraits across the region of study.

Romulus Snake: This species has been found in Karnataka. This species looks very similar to the common krait but differs genetically. It has been named snake man of India, Romulus Whittaker.

Wall’s Sind krait: This species is found across Maharashtra, Rajasthan and western Pakistan. It differs about 3% from Sind krait found in Pakistan.

It is found that venom from the above kraits is very potent and no antivenom in India has the ability to neutralize their venoms.
This is because these antivenoms are made to protect against the bites of the ‘big four’ Indian snakes – the spectacled cobra (Naja naja), common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) and saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus).
According to the researchers, about 58,000 people die in India every year due to snake bites and three times this number suffer permanent disabilities, it is necessary to take cognisance of the difference between the venoms of the different species and their distribution across the country through more research.

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