Chinese cobra

Chinese cobra
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Naja
Species:	N. atra
Binomial name
Naja atra Cantor, 1842
Naja atra distribution
Synonyms
Naja atra Cantor 1842 Naja tripudians var. scopinucha Cope, 1859 Naja tripudians var. unicolor Von Martens, 1876 Naia tripudians var. fasciata Boulenger, 1896 Naja naja atra Stejneger, 1907 Naja kaouthia atra Deraniyagala, 1960 Naja naja atra Golay, 1985 Naja sputatrix atra Lingenhole & Trutnau, 1989 Naja atra Ziegler, 2002 Naja (Naja) atra Wallach, 2009

The Chinese cobra (Naja atra), also called Taiwan cobra, is a species of cobra in the Elapidae family, found mostly in southern China and a couple of neighboring nations and islands. It is one of the most prevalent venomous snakes in mainland China and Taiwan, which has caused many snakebite incidents to humans.

Naja atra was first described by Danish physician, zoologist, and botanist Theodore Edward Cantor in 1842. The generic name naja is a Latinisation of the Sanskrit word nāgá () meaning "cobra". The specific epithet atra comes from the Latin term ater, which means "dark", "black", or "gloomy".

In Mandarin Chinese, the snake is known as Zhōnghuá yǎnjìngshé (simplified: 中华眼镜蛇, traditional: 中華眼鏡蛇, lit. "Chinese spectacled snake", i.e. Chinese cobra), Zhōushān yǎnjìngshé (舟山眼鏡蛇, lit. "Zhoushan spectacled snake", i.e. Zhoushan cobra) or, in Guangdong and Hong Kong, fànchǎntóu (飯鏟頭, lit. "rice paddle head"). "Spectacled snake" refers to the markings which the snake may at times have on the back of the hood that resemble eyeglasses. In Taiwanese, the snake is known as pn̄g-sî-chhèng (飯匙倩/銃, lit. "rice paddle ?"), ba̍k-kiàⁿ-chôa (目鏡蛇, lit. "spectacled snake", i.e. cobra), or tn̂g-ām-chôa (長頷蛇, lit. "long-chinned snake").

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