Ingram's brown snake (''Pseudonaja ingrami'') is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is endemic to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Taxonomy

Belgian-British zoologist

George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger (19 October 1858 – 23 November 1937) was a Belgian-British zoologist who described and gave scientific names to over 2,000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Boulenger was also an active botani ...

described the species in 1908 as ''Diemenia ingrami'', from a specimen collected on Alexandria Station in the Northern Territory. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''ingrami'', is in honour of Collingwood Ingram, who was an English ornithologist and horticulturist. The brown snakes were moved to the genus ''

Pseudonaja ''Pseudonaja'' is a genus of highly venomous elapid snakes native to Australia. Species of this genus are known commonly as brown snakes and are considered to be some of the most dangerous snakes in the world; even young snakes are capable of d ...

'' by Australian naturalist

Eric Worrell Eric Arthur Frederic Worrell (MBE), (27 October 1924 – 13 July 1987) was an Australian naturalist, herpetologist and writer whose collection of snake venom was essential in the production of snake anti-venom in Australia. History Eric was b ...

in the early 1960s on the basis of skull morphology, and reinforced by American herpetologist

Samuel Booker McDowell Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the bibl ...

in 1967 on the basis of the muscles of the venom glands. This classification has been followed by subsequent authors. Genetic analysis indicates that Ingram's brown snake is a diverged from the ancestor of all other brown snakes except the more basal

ringed brown snake The ringed brown snake (''Pseudonaja modesta'') is a species of venomous elapid snake native to a broad swathe of inland Australia, from western New South Wales and Queensland to Western Australia. Albert Günther described it as ''Cacophis mod ...

(''P. modesta'') and

speckled brown snake The speckled brown snake or spotted brown snake (''Pseudonaja guttata'') is a species of venomous elapid snake native to northeastern Australia. Taxonomy English zoologist Hampton Wildman Parker described the speckled brown snake as ''Demansi ...

(''P. guttata'').

Description

Ingram's brown snake grows to long. It has a grey-brown to dark brown head and nape, black-brown to golden brown upper parts. It has 17 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, 190 to 220 ventral scales, 55 to 70 divided

subcaudal scales In snakes, the subcaudal scales are the enlarged plates on the underside of the tail.Wright AH, Wright AA. 1957. Handbook of Snakes. Comstock Publishing Associates (7th printing, 1985). 1105 pp. . These scales may be either single or divided (pair ...

(occasionally some of the anterior ones are undivided), and a divided anal scale. Cogger HG (2014). ''Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition''. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. . (''Pseudonaja ingrami'', p. 925).

Distribution and habitat

''P. ingrami'' is native to a broad swathe of inland Australia, from northwestern Queensland to northeastern Western Australia. It lives in tussock grasslands on black soil, retreating into earth crevices.

Feeding

Ingram's brown snake eats small birds and mammals.

Reproduction

''P. ingrami'' is

oviparous Oviparous animals are animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method of most fish, amphibians, most reptiles, and all pterosaurs, dinosaurs (including birds), and ...

, with clutches ranging between 12 and 18 eggs.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3409785 Pseudonaja Reptiles of Western Australia Reptiles described in 1908 Reptiles of Queensland Snakes of Australia