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''Toxicocalamus'' is a genus of snakes in the family Elapidae.〔McDowell, S.B. 1969 ''Toxicocalamus'', a New Guinea genus of snakes of the family Elapidae. ''Journal of Zoology'', London. 159(4):443–511.〕 Most species are relatively small, the largest specimen known being the holotype of the recently described ''Toxicocalamus ernstmayri'', which measures 1.1 m snout to vent (SVL) and 1.2 m in total length (TTL), with the second longest the holotype of ''T. grandis'' (880 mm SVL, 980 mm TTL). Most species are under 800 mm in length and several are the thickness of bootlaces. In general females have longer bodies than males, but much shorter tails. Members of genus ''Toxicocalamus'' are venomous, with fixed front-fangs (a dental arrangement known as proteroglyphous), but they not known to be a threat to humans, being unaggressive, of modest size, and secretive. However, the venom of ''T. longissimus'' is believed to be fairly toxic, since it contains Three-Finger Toxins (3FTx), Type-I Phospholipase A (PLA) and Snake Venom Metalloproteinase (SVMP),〔Calvete, J.J., P. Ghezellou, O. Paiva, T. Matainaho, A. Ghassempour, H. Goudarzi, F. Kraus, L. Sanz & D.J. Williams. 2012. Snake venomics of two poorly known Hydrophiinae: Comparative proteomics of the venoms of terrestrial ''Toxicocalamus longissimus'' and marine ''Hydrophis cyanocinctus''. ''Journal of Proteomics''. 75 : 4091-4101..〕 while ''T. buergersi'' possesses long venom glands than extend backwards into the body cavity.〔 Although most species are believed to be diurnal, they are fossorial, or semi-fossorial, in habit and rarely encountered.〔O'Shea M. 1996. ''A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea''. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea: Independent Publishing. vii + 239 pp. ISBN 978-9810078362.. 〕 Many species are localised in their distribution and associated with particular islands or mountain ranges. Several species are poorly known with four known from only their holotypes. ''Toxicocalamus'' is probably not closely related to the Australian Elapidae, being endemic to the island of New Guinea, northern coastal offshore islands, i.e. Seleo Is. (Sandaun Province, PNG); Walis Is. and Tarawai Is. (East Sepik Province, PNG), and Karkar Is. (Madang Province, PNG), and the archipelagoes of Milne Bay Province to the southeast, i.e. d'Entrecasteaux Archipelago (Goodenough Is., Fergusson Is., and Normanby Is.), Woodlark Is., and the Louisiade Archipelago (Misima Is., Vanatinaí, formerly Sudest Is., and Rossel Is.).〔〔Kraus F. 2009. New Species of ''Toxicocalamus'' (Squamata: Elapidae) from Papua New Guinea. ''Herpetologica'' 65 (4) :460-467. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1655/09-002.1〕〔O'Shea, M., F. Parker & H. Kaiser. 2015. A new species of New Guinea Worm-eating Snake, genus ''Toxicocalamus'' (Serpentes: Elapidae), from the Star Mountains of Western Province, Papua New Guinea, with a revised dichotomous key to the genus. ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology''. 161 (6): 241-264.〕 The prey of snakes in the genus ''Toxicocalamus'' appears to consist almost entirely of earthworms, particularly the giant earthworms of the Megascolecidae,〔 hence the adoption of the term "worm-eating snakes" for species within this genus. In common with other tropical elapids, ''Toxicocalamus'' is believed to reproduce by oviparity with clutch sizes of 3-7 recorded, dependent on species and size of the female. The natural history of many species is almost entirely undocumented, due to a paucity of specimens and the infrequence of their encounter in the field. ==Species== The following 12 species, and single subspecies, are currently recognised in the genus ''Toxicocalamus'':〔(at The Reptile Database )〕 * ''Toxicocalamus buergersi'' (Sternfeld, 1913) 〔Sternfeld, R. 1913 Beitrage zur Schlangenfauna Neuguineas und der benachbarten Inselgruppen. ''Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde, Berlin''. 1913 : 384–389.〕 Torricelli Mountains snake * ''Toxicocalamus ernstmayri'' O'Shea, Parker & Kaiser, 2015 〔 Star Mountains snake * ''Toxicocalamus grandis'' (Boulenger, 1914) 〔Boulenger, G.A. 1914 An Annotated List of the Batrachians and Reptiles collected by the British Ornithologists' Union Expedition and the Wollaston Expedition in Dutch New Guinea. ''Transactions of the Zoological Society of London''. 20 (5): 247–274.〕 Setakwa River snake * ''Toxicocalamus holopelturus'' McDowell, 1969 〔 Rossel Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus longissimus'' Boulenger, 1896 〔Boulenger, G.A. 1896 Description of a new genus of elapine snakes from Woodlark Island, British New Guinea. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 6 (18) (104):152.〕 Woodlark Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus loriae'' (Boulenger, 1898) 〔Boulenger, G.A. 1898 An account of the reptiles and batrachians collected by Dr. L. Loria in British New Guinea. ''Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova''. 2 (18): 694–710.〕 Common worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus mintoni'' Kraus, 2009 〔Kraus, F. New species of ''Toxicocalamus'' (Squamata: Elapidae) from Papua New Guinea. ''Journal of Herpetology''. 65 (4): 460–467.〕 Vanatinai snake * ''Toxicocalamus misimae'' McDowell, 1969 〔 Misima Island snake * ''Toxicocalamus pachysomus'' Kraus, 2009 〔 Cloudy Mountains worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus preussi'' (Sternfeld, 1913) 〔 Preuss' slender worm-eating snake : * ''Toxicocalamus preussi preussi'' (Sternfeld, 1913) 〔 Preuss' slender worm-eating snake : * ''Toxicocalamus preussi angusticinctus'' Bogert & Matalas, 1945 〔Bogert, C.M. & B.L. Matalas. 1945. Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 53. A review of the elapid genus ''Ultrocalamus'' of New Guinea. ''American Museum Novitates'' (1284) : 1–7.〕 Fly River slender worm-eating snake * ''Toxicocalamus spilolepidotus'' McDowell, 1969 〔 Krakte Mountains spotted snake * ''Toxicocalamus stanleyanus'' Boulenger, 1903 〔Boulenger, G.A. 1903 Descriptions of new Reptiles from British New Guinea. ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London''. 1903 :125-129.〕 Owen Stanley Mountains snake ''Nota bene'': A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Toxicocalamus''. These former genera, ''Apistocalamus, Apisthocalamus, Pseudapistocalamus, Pseudapisthocalamus, Ultrocalamus,'' and ''Vanapina'', are now synonyms of ''Toxicocalamus''. The former species ''Pseudapisthocalamus nymani'' Lönnberg, 1900;〔Lönnberg, A. 1900 Reptiles and amphibians collected in German New Guinea by the late Dr Erik Nyman. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 7 (6): 574–582.〕 ''Apisthocalamus pratti'' Boulenger, 1904;〔Boulenger, G.A. 1904. Descriptions of three new snakes. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 7 (13) (78) : 450–452.〕 ''A. loennbergii'' Boulenger, 1908;〔Boulenger, G.A. 1908 Description of a new elapine snake of the genus ''Apisthocalamus'', Blg., from New Guinea. ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 8 (1) (3): 248–249.〕 and ''A. lamingtoni'' Kinghorn, 1928;〔Kinghorn, J.R. 1928 Notes on some reptiles and batachians from the Northern Division of Papua, with descriptions of new species of ''Apisthocalamus'' and ''Lygosoma''. ''Records of the Australian Museum''. 16 (6): 289–293.〕 are synonyms of ''T. loriae'', ''Vanapina lineata'' de Vis, 1905 〔De Vis, C.W. 1905 A new genus of lizards. Annals of the Queensland Museum. 6 : 46–52.〕 is a synonym of ''T. longissimus'',〔Ingram, G.J. 1989 ''Vanapina lineata'' de Vis, 1905 is a junior synonym of the New Guinean snake ''Toxicocalamus longissimus'' Boulenger, 1896. ''Copeia''. 1989 (3): 753–754.〕 and ''Ultrocalamus latisquamatus'' Schüz, 1929 〔Schüz, E. 1929 Verzeichnis der Typen des Staatlichen Museums für Tierkunde in Dresden. Part 1. Fische, Amphibien und Reptilien mit einem Anhang: Die Schlangen der papuanischen Ausbeute Dr. Schlaginhäufen 1909. ''Abhandlungen und Berichte des Museum Tierkunde und Völkerkunde zu Dresden''. 17 : 14–16.〕 is a synonym of ''T. preussi''. Most of the described species are poorly known and rarely encountered. The most widely distributed, and most commonly encountered, species is ''T. loriae'' (itself a possible species complex), which accounts for 66% of all ''Toxicocalamus'' specimens in museum collections. ''T. loriae'' is frequently encountered in the Highlands, where large numbers have been collected in village gardens along the Wahgi River valley of Simbu Province, PNG. The next most frequently encountered and widely distributed species are ''T. preussi'' and ''T. stanleyanus''. All the other species are much less well known and localised in distribution. On mainland New Guinea, ''T. buergersi'' is known from only six specimens, from the Torricelli Mountains in the Sepik region; ''T. spilolepidotus'' is known from two specimens, from the Kratke Range, Eastern Highlands Province, ''T. pachysomus'' is known from its holotype, from the Cloudy Mountains, Milne Bay Province, PNG, while ''T. grandis'' is also only known from its holotype, collected on the Setakwa River, western New Guinea, in 1912. On the islands of Milne Bay, ''T. holopelturus'' is known from 18 specimens from Rossel Island, ''T. longissimus'' is known from 12 specimens from Woodlark Island, ''T. misimae'' is known from three specimens from Misima Island, and ''T. mintoni'' is known from only its holotype, from Vanatinai Island. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Toxicocalamus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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