Animal: Micropechis ikaheca, New Guinea small-eyed snake
Species
- Micropechis ikaheca
Taxonomy
Serpentes; Elapidae; Elapinae
Common names
New Guinea small-eyed snake, Ikaheka snake
- New Guinea small-eyed snake, Ikaheka snake
Distribution
See link "Distribution" at the top of the page for detailed information.
Micropechis ikaheca
Endemic to New Guine and also found on some adjacent islands.
Biology
With small eyes and smooth scales this is a typical burrowing snake with a nocturnal activity. Length up to 2 m.
Prefers moist and wet habitats like swamps wetlands or rain forests, but also found in man made structures like coconut husk piles on Kar Kar island.
Danger
Micropechis ikaheca is known to have caused serious or even fatal envenomings in Papua New Guinea (Warrell et al. 1972).
Literature (biological)
O'Shea 1994, O'Shea et al. 1996