taipan

A venomous snake (Oxyuranus scutellatus), native to NE Australia and New Guinea; one of the world's most deadly snakes; the largest Australian snake (length up to 4 m/13 ft); aggressive (but rare); brown with paler head; eats mainly small mammals. The Australian fierce snake (Parademansia microlepidota) is sometimes placed in genus Oxyuranus and called desert taipan. (Family: Elapidae.)

Taipans are large (up to 3 metres in length), fast, highly venomous Australian snakes, one of which, the Fierce Snake, has the most toxic venom of any land species worldwide. The common taipan is broken up into two subspecies, the mainland coastal taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus scutellatus) and the Papuan taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus canni) which is native to the southern coast of Papua New Guinea.