The Lesser Black Krait (Bungarus lividus) is a small, secretive elapid snake originally described in 1839 (though not always recognized subsequently as a distinct species). It is found in eastern Nepal, norhwestern Bangladesh, and northesstern India. It is unusual among kraits in having normal sized (or only slightly enlarged) body scales in the vertebral row (see Fig. 1 in Kuch et al. 2011).
Wall (1911) reported on a large (3 feet 2 inches) Lesser Black Krait specimen that bit an agricultural laborer, who died 12 to 18 hours later. No medical details were available. More recently, Kuch et al. (2011) provided a detailed account of a young woman in Nepal bitten by an 82 cm adult male Lesser Black Krait. Kuch et al. detail the victim's symptoms and treatment provided to the victim, who sadly did not survive. The authors suggest that although there are almost no reported cases of humans being bitten by B. lividus or B. niger (but see Faiz et al. 2010), such bites are probably occurring often but are misattributed to the Common Krait (B. caeruleus). Such misattribution is made more likely by the widespread but incorrect belief (Alirol et al. 2010) that the only medically important snakes in Asia are the four species used in the production of Indian polyvalent antivenoms (B. caeruleus, Naja naja [Indian Cobra], D. russelii [Russell's Viper], and Echis carinatus [Saw-scaled Viper]).
The Greater and Lesser Black Kraits, which appear to be sister taxa (Slowinski 1994), are both nocturnal, with a similar appearance and overlapping geographic ranges.
(Kuch et al. 2011 and references therein)
The lesser black krait (Bungarus lividus) is a species of venomous elapid snake found in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal.[1][2][3] The specific epithet is after Latin lividus, meaning “bluish metal-colored” or “lead-colored”, referring to the snake's coloration.
The Lesser black krait is a rather small sized snake. The body (dorsum) is smooth and black to bluish-black in colour. The upper lip is white. The ventrals are white with grey edges. The eyes are small, black with round pupils. Eyes are positioned more towards the snout. The scales are arranged in 15 dorsal rows (15:15:15). The mid-dorsal (vertebral) scales are only slightly enlarged than the other rows. Anal and subcaudal scales are undivided. 7 supralabials(3rd & 4th touches eye), 7 infralabials(3rd touches anterior genial); Temporals 1+2; Postocular 2.[4]
India(North Bengal, Northeast India), Bangladesh, Nepal
Type locality: Assam, India
The krait is primarily ophiophagous, meaning it preys on other snakes.
The lesser black krait (Bungarus lividus) is a species of venomous elapid snake found in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The specific epithet is after Latin lividus, meaning “bluish metal-colored” or “lead-colored”, referring to the snake's coloration.