King Cobra Taxonomy

This post is in response to a question I received a while ago via the website:
“Keep up the good work.
PS You need to some taxonomy on the group and resurrecting some of the names assigned for the various regional variants.
I have not looked at the group, but am aware that most if not all were named a few decades back by some bloke that none of his peers liked.  ALL THE BEST”
At the moment the King Cobra is a lone species in its own genus – Ophiophagus Hannah (cantor 1836). For several years an Indian herpetologist has proposed the two locality types from India are separate species, that there was possibly several species of Ophiophagus throughout their range and that he would be publishing a description of the species using traditional taxonomy e.g. scale counts but this has not yet happened.
I and others including academics agree there are at least 4 and possibly 7 species, never mind sub species (which is a completely different debate that I don’t want to open at the moment). I have and will continue to supply DNA samples to any researchers who require them. The problem is the King Cobra is RARE and this is reflected in museum specimens. If you want to look at a type of Crotalus you could probably examine 100s of preserved specimens and say “I know this species” but this isn’t possible with Ophiophagus!
An example of why this is important is as follows: I have a King Cobra with CITIES papers from Bali Indonesia. She has different scaleation to the rear of her head from all other Indonesian Kings I’ve seen and ‘hood chevrons’ covering her whole body to the tip of her tail! I can’t say she’s a new species from Bali for two reasons. 1) I haven’t and can’t examine enough King Cobras from this, the more easterly part of the range. Interestingly they tend to be smaller, cope better with surviving in secondary habitat and unlike most populations an almost even sex ratio is sometimes imported. Kings imported from other areas tend to be very male heavy.
2) To say “I know this species” and this is a new one Ophiophagus O’shea (-: what if it’s an aberrant? – a mutation? If I’d examined 50+ King Cobras from Bali I’d know but few exist! The other problem is what if she’s not even from Bali but caught on a different island and just exported from there? Taxonomists are looking at the genus and I’m sure eventually it will contain several species but I’m neither a taxonomist nor an academic although I’ll continue to provide samples from my Cobras to those who are.

Head shot of Sue two my female Bali king.

Head shot of Queeny a typical Indonesian King Cobra.

My female King Cobra ‘Suetwo’ – a new species of Ophiophagus or ‘mutation’? – Either way she’s a ‘looker’!

Suetwo - named after my wife who helped with the emergency care and TLC that saved this King Cobras life. (Sue cried as she felt her ribs even though she's no snake fan, but of course a true animal lover!)

Photo of Suetwo showing her chevrons.