Acanthophis laevis Macleay, 1877

Karin, Benjamin R., Stubbs, Alexander L., Arifin, Umilaela, Bloch, Luke M., Ramadhan, G., Iskandar, Djoko T., Arida, Evy, Reilly, Sean B., Kusnadi, Agus & Mcguire, Jimmy A., 2018, The herpetofauna of the Kei Islands (Maluku, Indonesia): Comprehensive report on new and historical collections, biogeographic patterns, conservation concerns, and an annotated checklist of species from Kei Kecil, Kei Besar, Tam, and Kur, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 66, pp. 704-738 : 730

Acanthophis laevis Macleay, 1877

(Fig. 32)

Type locality. New Guinea .

Distribution in the Kei Islands. We collected a single specimen on Kei Kecil and two specimens on Kei Besar. The WAM expedition collected six specimens from Kei Besar, and ZMUC holds five additional specimens from Kei Kecil. Local people are familiar with this lethal snake and report that it is not present on either Tam or Kur.

Natural history. Venomous and dangerous. On Kei Besar, we collected this species at two locations in the vicinity of Gunung Daab, one on the ground in a small forest window of bunchgrass within primary forest, and the other was found dead on the road near the trailhead. On Kei Kecil this species was found in disturbed forest habitat.

Fig. 32. Close-up in life of head of Acanthophis laevis from Kei Kecil (ALS 150).

Field identification. A small to medium brown snake with a viper-like flat, broad, triangular head, distinctly raised horn-like supraoculars, and a relatively short and thin tail with a terminal spine ( de Lang, 2013).