In 1930, Kinghorn announced it as the second largest venomous snake in the world, with 3/4 inch fangs. He noted the distinctness of the palatine bone necessitated the new genus as distinct from all other elapid snakes. Australian naturalist Roy Kinghorn established the genus Oxyuranus in 1923, describing a specimen from Coen as O. Impressed by their size-up to 2.76 m, he sent the skins and skulls to the Australian Museum in Sydney. In 1922, scientific bird collector William McLennan killed two snakes near Coen in far north Queensland. Charles Walter De Vis described Pseudechis wilesmithii from Walsh River in north Queensland in 1911. German naturalist Wilhelm Peters described the coastal taipan as Pseudechis scutellatus in 1867, from material collected in Rockhampton, Queensland. Its venom is predominantly neurotoxic and coagulopathic.

The species is oviparous.Īccording to most toxicological studies, this species is the third-most venomous land snake in the world after the inland taipan and eastern brown snake. It mainly hunts and eats small mammals, and opportunistically takes bird prey. The coastal taipan is found in a wide range of habitats, from monsoon forests to open woodland, as well as human-modified habitats such as sugarcane fields. The snake is considered to be a least-concern species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It has light olive or reddish-brown upperparts, with paler underparts. The second-longest venomous snake in Australia, the coastal taipan averages around 2 m (6.6 ft) long, with the longest specimens reaching 2.9 m (9.5 ft) in length. Described by Wilhelm Peters in 1867, the species is native to the coastal regions of northern and eastern Australia and the island of New Guinea.

The coastal taipan ( Oxyuranus scutellatus), or common taipan, is a species of highly venomous snake in the family Elapidae. Distribution of Oxyuranus scutellatus in green

Black mamba vs inland taipan