Black and white: Molecular phylogeny reveals distinct evolutionary lineages of the Banded Krait, Bungarus fasciatus (Squamata: Elapidae) in Asia

Abstract

The banded krait, Bungarus fasciatus is a widespread elapid snake, likely to comprise several distinct species in different geographic regions of Asia. Therefore, based on molecular phylogenetics and comparative morphology data, we present an overview of the systematic composition of the species to delimit potential biogeographic boundaries. Our phylogenetic analyses, based on four mitochondrial genes, reveal the existence of at least three evolutionary lineages within B. fasciatus, corresponding to Indo-Myanmar, Sundaic and eastern Asian lineages. We are convinced that there are at least three taxonomic entities within the nomen B. fasciatus, and we also designated a neotype in this study and restrict the distribution of B. fasciatus sensu stricto in the Indo-Myanmar region. We also provide additional natural history data of the taxon from eastern India. Finally, we advocate further studies to establish the degree of reproductive isolation among these diverging evolutionary lineages and to reassess the systematic status of this species complex especially the Sundaic and eastern Asian lineages.

First record of two species of venomous snakes Bungarus suzhenae and Ovophis zayuensis (Serpentes: Elapidae, Viperidae) from India

“…The Elapid genus Bungarus Daudin, 1803 consists of 18 species (Uetz et al 2024), distributed from Iran and Pakistan eastwards to China and Indonesia (Chen et al 2021). Eight species of Bungarus have been reported from India, namely, B. andamanensis Biswas & Sanyal, 1978, B. caeruleus Schneider, 1801, B. sindanus Boulenger, 1897, B. walli Wall, 1907, B. lividus Cantor, 1839, B. fasciatus Schneider, 1801, B. niger Wall, 1908, and B. bungaroides Cantor, 1839, of which the latter four are found in northeastern India (Ahmed et al 2009;Das & Das 2017;Das 2018;Biakzuala et al 2021). Recently, Chen et al (2021) described B. suzhenae from China that is currently known from the type locality Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province, China, and the adjacent Kachin State of Myanmar.…”

Bungarus fasciatus venom from eastern and north-east India: venom variation and immune cross-reactivity with Indian polyvalent antivenoms

“…Accurate species delimitation is crucial in view of the variability in snake venom composition [49] and its potential effects on antivenom efficacy [50]. Most of the existing taxonomic and systematic literature on Bungarus have apparently overlooked the intraspecific diversity of B. fasciatus [51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. Therefore, in this study we fill in the inherent knowledge gaps by providing comparative morphological evidence and molecular phylogeny based on four mitochondrial genes (COI, CYTB, ND4 and 16S rRNA) based on sequences from east and northeast India, Indochina, and the Greater Sunda islands.…”