Mussurana

Mussurana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Reptilia Order: Squamata Suborder: Serpentes Family: Colubridae Genus: Clelia Fitzinger, 1826
Species
Clelia bicolor Clelia clelia Clelia equatoriana Clelia errabunda Clelia rustica Clelia scytalina

The mussurana or musurana (Portuguese muçurana) are six species of oviparous colubrid snakes distributed from Guatemala to Brazil, which specialize in ophiophagy, i.e., they attack and eat other snakes. They have other popular names in various countries, such as zopilota in Central America and cribo on some Caribbean islands. The species of mussurana are Clelia clelia (Daudin) (also called Pseudoboa clelia Serié 1921, Pseudoboa occipitolutea Serié 1936, Boiruna maculata Leynaud & Bucher 1999, Clelia occipitolutea Peters & Orejas-Miranda 1970, Oxyrhopus cloelia Boulenger 1886, Brachyruton cloelia Duméril Bibron & Duméril 1854, Clelia daudinii Fitzinger 1826, Coluber clelia Daudin 1803 and distributed mostly in South America) and Clelia scytalis (in Central America). [1] [2]

The mussurana has a length of 1.5 to 1.6 m, but it can grow up to 2.4 m. When young, its dorsal color is light pink, which becomes lead-blue when it is adult. The ventral color is whitish yellow. It has 10 to 15 strong teeth at the back of the mouth (opisthoglyphous teeth) which it uses to grasp the head of the attacked snake and push it into its gullet. Then it coils its body around the victim, killing it by constriction (this is the reason this species is called a pseudoboa). Ingestion of the whole body follows. The long body of the ingested snake is compressed as a wave in order to fit into the mussurana's gastrointestinal system.

Although mussurana's fangs contain venom, these snakes pose no danger to humans. Even when handled they usually do not bite. Very few envenomations have been reported and they were not fatal. [3]

The mussurana is immune to the venom of the snakes it feeds upon, particularly the smaller Central and South American pit vipers of the genus Bothrops. It is not immune to the venom of the coral snake, though. In the absence of other snakes, the mussurana can feed also on small mammals. Its preferred habitat is dense ground-level vegetation and its habit is diurnal.

In some regions, farmers keep mussuranas as pets in order to keep their living environment clear of pit vipers, which claim annually a large number of deaths of domestic animals, like cattle. In the 1930s a Brazilian plan to breed and release large numbers of mussuranas for the control of pit vipers was tried but didn't work. The Butantan Institute in São Paulo, which specializes in the production of antivenins, erected a statue of Clelia clelia as its symbol and a tribute to its usefulness in combating venomous snake bites. The mussurana's immunity to bothropic venom was studied by the Brazilian scientist Vital Brazil in the 1920s.

Mussuranas are increasingly rare due to the disappearance of their prey and have disappeared in many habitats.

Literature

Ditmars, R.L. 1936. The Reptiles of North America. Doubleday and Co., New York, NY, 476 pp., 135 plates. Notes Trimorphodon, Leptodeira capable poisonous bites; mentions boomslang, possibly mussurana, dangerous.

Roosevelt, Theodore 1914. Through the Brazilian Wilderness. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 410 pp. Notes: Throughout the book, the snake is commonly referred to as the "mussurama".

External links

• Mussurana Care Sheet
• [4] Free Dictionary
• Photograph from the wild: mussurana 1, common lancehead 0.
• [5] discussion forum (about venom of musurana)