''Toxicocalamus'' is a genus of snakes in the family Elapidae. The genus is endemic to New Guinea.

Description

Most species of ''Toxicocalamus'' are relatively small, the largest specimen known being the holotype of the recently described ''Toxicocalamus ernstmayri'', which measures snout-to-vent length (SVL) and in total length (TTL). The second longest is the holotype of ''T. grandis'', which measures SVL, TTL. Most species are under TTL, and several are the thickness of bootlaces. In general females have longer bodies than males, but much shorter tails.

Venom

Members of genus ''Toxicocalamus'' are venomous, with fixed front-fangs (a dental arrangement known as proteroglyphous), but are not known to be a threat to humans, being unaggressive, of modest size, and secretive. However, the venom of ''T. longissimus'' is believed to be fairly toxic, since it contains three-finger toxins (3FTx), Type-I

phospholipase A Phospholipase A can refer to: * Phospholipase A1 * Phospholipase A2 * Outer membrane phospholipase A1 An enzyme that displays both phospholipase A1 and phospholipase A2 activities is called a Phospholipase B (see main article on phospholipase ...

(PLA) and snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP), while ''T. buergersi'' possesses long venom glands than extend backwards into the body cavity.

Behaviour

Although most species of ''Toxicocalamous'' are believed to be diurnal, they are

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

, or semi-fossorial, in habit and rarely encountered. O'Shea, M. (1996). ''A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea''. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Independent Publishing. vii + 239 pp. ..

Geographic range

Many species of ''Toxicocalamus'' are localised in their distribution and associated with particular islands or mountain ranges. Several species are poorly known, with four known only from their holotypes. ''Toxicocalamus'' is probably not closely related to the Australian Elapidae, being endemic to the island of New Guinea, northern coastal offshore islands, i.e. Seleo Is. ( Sandaun Province, PNG); Walis Is. and Tarawai Is. ( East Sepik Province, PNG), and Karkar Is. ( Madang Province, PNG), and the archipelagoes of Milne Bay Province to the southeast, i.e.

d'Entrecasteaux Archipelago D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...

( Goodenough Is., Fergusson Is., and Normanby Is.), Woodlark Is., and the Louisiade Archipelago ( Misima Is., Sudest Is., and Rossel Is.).

Diet

The Predation, prey of snakes in the genus ''Toxicocalamus'' appears to consist almost entirely of earthworms, particularly the giant earthworms of the Megascolecidae, hence the adoption of the term "worm-eating snakes" for species within this genus.

Reproduction

In common with other tropical Elapidae, elapids, ''Toxicocalamus'' is believed to reproduce by oviparity, with clutch sizes of 3–7 recorded, dependent on species and size of the female.

Natural history

The natural history of many species of ''Toxicocalamus'' is almost entirely undocumented, due to a paucity of specimens and the infrequence of their encounter in the field.

Species

The following 17 species, one of which has two subspecies, are currently recognised as being valid in the genus ''Toxicocalamus'': * ''Toxicocalamus buergersi'' (Richard Sternfeld, Sternfeld, 1913) (in German). – Buergers' forest snake, Torricelli Mountains snake * ''Toxicocalamus cratermontanus'' :fr:Edward Frederick Kraus, Kraus, 2017 – Crater Mountain snake * ''Toxicocalamus ernstmayri'' Mark O'Shea (herpetologist), O'Shea, Frederick Stanley Parker, Parker & Hinrich Kaiser, Kaiser, 2015 – Star Mountains snake, Star Mountains worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus goodenoughensis'' Jackson R. Roberts, J.R. Roberts & Christopher C. Austin, C. Austin, 2020 * ''Toxicocalamus grandis'' (George Albert Boulenger, Boulenger, 1914) – Setakwa River snake, Setekwa River forest snake * ''Toxicocalamus holopelturus'' Samuel Booker McDowell, McDowell, 1969 – Mt. Rossel forest snake, Rossel Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus longissimus'' Boulenger, 1896 – Fergusson Island forest snake, Woodlark forest snake, Woodlark Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus loriae'' (Boulenger, 1898) – common worm-eating snake, Loria forest snake *''Toxicocalamus mattisoni'' Kraus, 2020 * ''Toxicocalamus mintoni'' Kraus, 2009 – Sherman A. Minton, Minton's forest snake, Tagula Island, Sudest Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus misimae'' McDowell, 1969 – Misima Island forest snake, Misima Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus nigrescens'' Kraus, 2017 – Fergusson Island worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus pachysomus'' Kraus, 2009 – Cloudy Mountains worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus preussi'' (Sternfeld, 1913) – Preuss's forest snake, Preuss' slender worm-eating snake :* ''Toxicocalamus preussi preussi'' (Sternfeld, 1913) – Preuss's Sepek forest snake, Preuss' slender worm-eating snake :* ''Toxicocalamus preussi angusticinctus'' Charles Mitchill Bogert, Bogert & Bessie Louise Matalas, Matalas, 1945 – Fly River forest snake, Fly River slender worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus pumehanae'' O'Shea, :fr:Allen Allison, Allison & Kaiser, 2018 – Managalas Plateau snake * ''Toxicocalamus spilolepidotus'' McDowell, 1969 – Krakte Mountains spotted snake, spotted forest snake * ''Toxicocalamus stanleyanus'' Boulenger, 1903 – Owen Stanley Range, Owen Stanley Mountains snake, Owen Stanley Range forest snake ''Nota bene'': A Binomial nomenclature, binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Toxicocalamus''. These former genera, ''Apistocalamus, Apisthocalamus, Pseudapistocalamus, Pseudapisthocalamus, Ultrocalamus,'' and ''Vanapina'', are now synonym (taxonomy), synonyms of ''Toxicocalamus''.

Taxonomy

The former species ''Pseudapisthocalamus nymani'' Einar Lönnberg, Lönnberg, 1900; ''Apisthocalamus pratti'' Boulenger, 1904; ''A. loennbergii'' Boulenger, 1908; and ''A. lamingtoni'' James Roy Kinghorn, Kinghorn, 1928; are synonyms of ''T. loriae'', ''Vanapina lineata'' Charles Walter De Vis, De Vis, 1905 is a synonym of ''T. longissimus'', and ''Ultrocalamus latisquamatus'' Schüz, 1929 is a synonym of ''T. preussi''. Most of the described species are poorly known and rarely encountered. The most widely distributed, and most commonly encountered, species is ''T. loriae'' (itself a possible species complex), which accounts for 66% of all ''Toxicocalamus'' specimens in museum collections. ''T. loriae'' is frequently encountered in the New Guinea Highlands, Highlands, where large numbers have been collected in village gardens along the Wahgi River valley of Chimbu Province, Simbu Province, PNG. The next most frequently encountered and widely distributed species are ''T. preussi'' and ''T. stanleyanus''. All the other species are much less well known and localised in distribution. Also on mainland New Guinea, ''T. buergersi'' is known from only six specimens, from the Torricelli Mountains in the Sepik region (Sandaun Province, Sandaun and East Sepik Provinces), PNG; ''T. spilolepidotus'' is known from two specimens, from the Kratke Range, Eastern Highlands Province, PNG; ''T. pachysomus'' is known from its holotype, from the Cloudy Mountains, Milne Bay Province; PNG, ''T. cratermontanus'' from its holotype, from Crater Mountain, Chimbu Province, Simbu Province, PNG, while ''T. ernstmayri'' was only known from its holotype in the Star Mountains of Western Province (Papua New Guinea), Western Province, PNG, until a second specimen was observed crawling across mine-workings at the Ok Tedi Mine, in the Star Mountains. ''Toxicocalamus grandis'' is also only known from its holotype, collected on the Setakwa River, western New Guinea, in 1912, (the only species represented by a type specimen west of the WNG/PNG border), and ''T. pumehanae'' is also only known from its holotype, from the Managalas Plateau, Oro Province, PNG,. On the islands of Milne Bay, ''T. holopelturus'' is known from 19 specimens from Rossel Island, also known as Yela; ''T. misimae'' is known from six specimens from Misima Island; and ''T. mintoni'' is only known from its holotype, from Tagula Island, Sudest Island, also known as Vanantai or Tagula Island, all in the Louisiade Archipelago. ''Toxicocalamus nigrescens'' is only known from its holotype and paratype, from Fergusson Island, in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, d'Entercasteaux Archipelago, while ''T. longissimus'' is known from 12 specimens from Woodlark Island.