Bungarus multicinctus
| Many-banded krait | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Genus: |
Bungarus Daudinl, 1803 |
| Species: | B. multicinctus |
| Binomial name | |
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Bungarus multicinctus Blyth, 1861 |
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| Range of the many-banded krait | |
The many-banded krait (Bungarus multicinctus), also known as the Taiwanese krait or the Chinese krait, is a highly venomous species of elapid snake found in much of central and southern China and Southeast Asia. The species was first described by the scientist Edward Blyth in 1861. This species has two known subspecies, the nominate Bungarus multicinctus multicinctus, and Bungarus multicinctus wanghaotingi. The many-banded krait mostly inhabits marshy areas throughout its geographical distribution, though it does occur in other habitat types.
Since the species' description by zoologist and pharmacist Edward Blyth in 1861,Bungarus multicinctus has been the binomial of the species. The generic name, Bungarus, is a Latinisation of Telugu baṅgāru, "krait." The specific name multicinctus is derived from the Latin multi-, combining form of multus, "much, many", and Latin cinctus, past participle of cingere, "to encircle"—as in a "band". The full species name (Bungarus multicinctus) thus literally means "many-banded krait". The common name "krait" is from Hindi (करैत karait), which is perhaps ultimately derived from the Sanskrit word (काल kāla), which means "black". It is also called as "கட்டுவிரியன்" in Tamil, a common name given to Bungarus genus.
The kraits, as they are commonly known, belong to the family Elapidae and the genus Bungarus. The genus is endemic to the continent of Asia. They are morphologically well connected, forming a close-knit and cohesive unit. The genus has 12–13 species who are morphologically distinct from the Naja genus and the Afro-elapids according to McDowell (1987). McDowell stated "species diversity is greatest in Africa, but the Asiatic Bungarus and Ophiophagus are each so peculiar in anatomy as to suggest an ancient divergence". Others, including Slowinski, believed that the kraits (Bungarus), are part of a clade that clusters with a group including the king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and oddly enough, with the African mambas (Dendroaspis) on the most-parsimonious tree or with Elapsoidea on the maximum-likelihood tree. This result calls into question the monophyly of cobras and underscores the uncertainty of the homology of the hood spreading behavior in cobras and mambas. The relationships of Dendroaspis, Ophiophagus, and Bungarus differed between the parsimony and likelihood analyses, suggesting that more work is necessary to resolve the relationships of these problematic taxa. McDowell's findings in regard to the sister-group of Bungarus and the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) family, propose that the kraits might just be a per-mutable clade between the elapidae "palatine-erectors" and the hydrophiinae "palatine draggers". Two genera within the hydrophiinae family in particular, support McDowell's hypothesis. The two genera are Salomonelaps and Loveridgelaps due to many shared characteristics. Mao et al. (1983) showed that this species, Bungarus multicinctus was slightly distinct from the other members of its genus and was immunologically more similar to Laticauda, terrestrial Australian elapids, and true sea snakes than it is to Elapsoidea sundevalli (Sundevall's garter snake), Naja naja (Indan cobra) or two Micrurus species (New World or American coral snakes). Minton (1981), Schwaner et al. and Cadle & Gorman (1981) all suggested similar things to Mao et al. (1983) based on immunological data. The many-banded krait was more similar to the Australian elapids, Laticauda and true sea snakes than they were to numerous elapids they were compared to.
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