Species group · Reptiles

Kraits

WAnimals has 2 species of krait, all in the family Elapidae.

2 species

1 family

20 countries

55 parks

Ranges calculated from the entries that record the figure, not from all 2.

All 2 species of kraits on WAnimals

Each one has its own full entry. This group does not replace them: it brings them together.

Common Krait

Bungarus caeruleus

Banded Krait

Bungarus fasciatus

2 Least Concern

No species documented in this group is genuinely at risk according to the IUCN, with the data available today.

Recorded in 20 countries. The ones with the most species in the group:

Its bite barely hurts, which is why many victims do not seek help in time.
From Common Krait
Its bite is practically painless: most victims are people who were sleeping on the floor and do not wake when bitten, only realising hours later when the paralysis appears, which delays treatment fatally.
From Common Krait
Its venom is neurotoxic and causes a progressive paralysis that is in many cases mistaken at first for other conditions, and late diagnosis is a major cause of death.
From Common Krait
By day it is almost inert: it lets itself be handled with barely a reaction and hides its head under the coils of its body, a daytime torpor so marked that for a long time it was considered harmless. At night it changes completely.
From Banded Krait
Its back has a prominent vertebral ridge that gives the body a triangular cross-section, an anatomical feature that tells it apart from any other banded snake in its range.
From Banded Krait
It eats mainly other snakes, and its diet includes venomous species to whose venom it has some resistance.
From Banded Krait