BLACK SNAKE

any of several species of snakes that are all black or nearly so. The black snake of Australian wetlands is Pseudeschis porphyriacus, a small-headed member of the cobra family, Elapidae. It is blue-black, with a red belly; average length is about 1.5 m (5 feet). If annoyed, it expands its neck, cobra fashion. Its venommore hemorrhagic than neurotoxicis rarely fatal. The spotted black snake (P. guttatus) of interior eastern Australia has pale spots and is bluish gray below. The mulga snake (P. australis) occurs across northern Australia and in dry parts of the southern interior. Occasionally 2.4 m long, it is reddish brown above and pinkish below. North American snakes called black snakes include the black racer, Coluber constrictor, and the pilot black snake, Elaphe obsoleta. See also racer; rat snake.