Micropechis ikaheca, commonly known as the New Guinea small-eyed snake or Ikaheka snake, is a highly venomous Elapidae, the only species in the genus Micropechis. The holotype was collected at Doré on the Vogelkop of Netherlands New Guinea, and described in 1829, by the naturalist on board the French Navy vessel La Coquille, ship's surgeon René Primevère Lesson, in a volume of the three-year circumnavigation (1922-1925) by Louis Isidore Duperrey, captain of La Coquille. Lesson's holotype is housed in the collection of the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, with the museum accession no. MNHN 7669.
Names
It is known as
sataw in the
Kalam language of Papua New Guinea.
[Bulmer, RNH (1975). Kalam Classification Of Reptiles And Fishes. Journal of the Polynesian Society 84(3): 267–308.]
Distribution
Micropechis ikaheca is
Endemism to
New Guinea and adjacent islands, notably
Karkar Island,
Madang Province, in Papua New Guinea, where it is particularly common and referred to as the "white snake" due to its pale coloring.
It is also found on neighboring
Manam,
and Walis Island in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, and on the
Schouten Islands, Papua Province, and Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua Province, West New Guinea. It is also reported from the
Aru Islands.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies have been proposed. The nominate form,
M. ikaheca ikaheca as described by Lesson, and which occurs on the Vogelkop, and the islands of
Misool and
Salawati in the Raja Ampat Archipelago, has very little banding on its pale yellow to brown body.
M. ikaheca fasciatus, the banded form, described by
Germany herpetology and
ichthyology, Johann Gustav Fischer in 1884, is found throughout the rest of New Guinea. Specimens from southern Western New Guinea are strongly banded throughout, but most of the specimens from the remainder of New Guinea, including the Schouten Islands, lack banding on the anterior section of the body. Specimens of
M. ikaheca from
Waigeo and
Batanta, in the
Raja Ampat Islands, are virtually black, without any patterning.
Natural history
M. ikaheca is a thick-bodied, smooth-scaled snake that grows up to long.
It has small eyes that are typical of other semi-
fossorial burrowing snakes, and is either
nocturnal or
crepuscular. In common with most other elapids,
M. ikaheca is
Oviparity.
The name ikaheca means "land eel" in a local West Papuan dialect, indicating the snake's preference for damp or semi-aquatic habitats, such as swamps, creeks, wetlands, low-lying rainforest, and piles of discarded vegetation debris, i.e. oil palm windrows, and coconut palm husk piles. It may be encountered crossing roads following rain at night [O’Shea, M. 1994 Micropechis ikaheka (Small-eyed or Ikaheka Snake) Ophiophagy. Herpetological Review 25(2):70.] It is also cannibalistic.[O’Shea, M. 1994 Micropechis ikaheka (Small-eyed or Ikaheka Snake) Cannibalism. Herpetological Review 25(2):70-71.]
Venom
M. ikaheca is considered a dangerous species, having been implicated in numerous
snakebite. The first proven human fatality occurred in 1958 in Wau, Papua New Guinea, where a young man died 36 hours after being bitten on the base of the thumb while handling the snake.
Another
envenomation occurred when a villager reportedly killed a specimen, but was then bitten on the left thumb by the "dead" snake when showing it to his neighbors (this bite may be due to postmortem reflex action).
The species has since been firmly established as a medically important species. Bites typically occur when plantation workers are moving coconut palm husk piles,
[O’Shea, M. 1994 The herpetofauna of coconut husk piles on Kar Kar Island, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea: The initial surveys. ASRA Journal 1994:51-72.] where the snakes shelter during the day, cutting grass, walking on plantation tracks, or harvesting
. Although normally shy, if disturbed (e.g., handled, stepped on) it may become highly aggressive, striking readily and rapidly.
Bites are tenacious and chewing, and are not easily released.
M. ikaheca is responsible for approximately 40% of all snake envenomations on Karkar Island, but less than 10% on the mainland, where the majority of snakebites are caused by the Acanthophis.
See also
