Mulga Snake or King Brown Pseudechis australis

The king brown snake is probably one of Australia's most well known venomous snakes. It is also commonly referred to by many as the mulga snake. The term King Brown to many, implies that this snake belongs to the brown snake family. The fact remains however that this snake is actually a member of the black snake family and as such requires the use of black snake antivenin should any body be envenomated.

 The king brown snake has a huge distribution area and is found in parts of all main land Australia and also found in southern parts of New Guinea.
 It coloration varies depending on locality and can be various tones of black, grey, dark green, and dark reddish brown. Usually each scale is lighter toned around the edge and often gives the snake a reticulated appearance. One of the scale characteristics is that the caudal scale are normally both single and divided. Here in the Pilbara area they are only single.

Previously it has been thought that  single subcaudals found in Australian elapids was a common key that showed the close relationship of all our live bearing species with the only exception being the Red bellied black snake. While this observation by Dr Richard Shine has merit it does appear now that here is yet another exception to this key. Many people here in the Pilbara area have asked me how to tell the difference between the Brown snakes and the king brown.
Besides the visual differences which is not often grasped by the inexperienced public, there is a scalation difference on the head that is quite easy to see once pointed out. The brown snakes of the genus Pseudonaja have a single temporal scale and the black snakes of the genus Pseudechis have two temporal scales.

While the King brown is considered to be a large elapid, size  varies accordingly to location but generally speaking they seem to be of a larger size further north with the occasional specimen reaching close to 10 foot in total length.

Although highly venomous I have personally found that they only reluctantly strike when first disturbed but can become pugnacious when provoked and will flatten out their neck and try to bite. One thing worth noting is that their venom output is quite large and this is another factor that makes them highly dangerous.
The King Brown shelters in burrows, logs, rock piles, etc. Prey consists of small mammals, birds, snakes, lizards, and frogs.

King browns are often found active just on dusk and in the hotter parts of the year become nocturnal.
Mating occurs around late spring here in the Pilbara and they lay on average nine eggs.
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