Description

Micropechis Ikaheca Venom | Ikaheka Snake Venom:

Micropechis Ikaheca Venom | Ikaheka Snake Venom is extracted from a snake called Micropechis Ikaheca.

More details about Micropechis Ikaheca Venom | Ikaheka Snake Venom:

Purity	> 99 %
Form	Lyophilized Powder
Packaging	In vacuum sealed glass vials, in secured parcel.

Taxonomic Classification:

Name	Micropechis Ikaheca
Common Name(s)	Ikaheka Snake, New Guinea Small-Eyed Snake
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Reptilia
Order	Squamata
Suborder	Serpentes
Family	Elapidae
Genus	Micropechis
Species	M. ikaheca

About Micropechis Ikaheca Snake:

Micropechis ikaheca, commonly known as the New Guinea small-eyed snake or Ikaheka snake, is a highly venomous elapid, the only species in the genus Micropechis.

Distribution:

Micropechis ikaheca is endemic to New Guinea and adjacent islands, notably Karkar Island, Madang Province, in Papua New Guinea, where it is particularly common and referred to as the “white snake” due to its pale coloring.

It is also found on neighboring Manam Island, and Walis Island in East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, and on the Schouten Islands, Papua Province, and Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua Province, West New Guinea.

It is also reported from the Aru Islands.

Taxonomy:

Two subspecies have been proposed.

The nominate form, M. ikaheca ikaheca as described by Lesson, and which occurs on the Vogelkop, and the islands of Misool and Salawati in the Raja Ampat Archipelago, has very little banding on its pale yellow to brown body.

M. ikaheca fasciatus, the banded form, described by German herpetologist and ichthyologist, Johann Gustav Fischer in 1884, is found throughout the rest of New Guinea.

Specimens from southern Western New Guinea are strongly banded throughout, but most of the specimens from the remainder of New Guinea, including the Schouten Islands, lack banding on the anterior section of the body.

Specimens of M. ikaheca from Waigeo and Batanta, in the Raja Ambat Islands, are virtually black, without any patterning.

Natural history:

M. ikaheca is a thick-bodied, smooth-scaled snake that grows up to 2.1 metres (6.9 ft) long.

It has small eyes that are typical of other semi-fossorial burrowing snakes, and is either nocturnal or crepuscular. In common with most other elapids, M. ikaheca is oviparous.