This directory covers the black snake genus Pseudechis. It is a taxonomic group, rather than a list of every Australian snake with a black back.
The Red-bellied Black Snake has a glossy dark back, but its underside varies. The Australian Museum describes several lookalikes, including small-eyed snakes and copperheads. A brief view of a dark snake is not enough to separate them reliably.
Check location and the profile’s similar-species notes alongside the photographs. Do not try to turn a snake over or move closer to see its underside. If the visible features are unclear, keep several possibilities open.
The Mulga Snake, also called the King Brown Snake, belongs to this group rather than Pseudonaja. Read each profile’s range carefully: the Papuan Black Snake record includes Boigu and Saibai Islands, not mainland Australia. The pygmy mulga profiles explain where older names and range accounts differ.
Compare a snake by location and appearance · Browse all snake profiles
Profiles are selected by the genus Pseudechis, not by black colour. Individual species vary in colour and geographic range.
Collett’s Snake (Pseudechis colletti) at Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary (captive).
Photo: RatioTile · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis colletti
A robust, boldly patterned snake of central Queensland’s black-soil plains.
Dangerously venomous
Photographed in the Mount Isa area, Queensland.
Photo: J.D. Scanlon · CC BY 4.0 (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis pailsei
A dangerously venomous pygmy mulga snake from north-western Queensland, with a head-and-neck pattern and a largely plain body.
Dangerously venomous
Photo: Max Tibby · CC0 1.0 (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis australis
A large, variable snake widespread across most of Australia.
Dangerously venomous
Elapidae
Pseudechis papuanus
A stout, dark snake with Australian records on Boigu and Saibai Islands in the Torres Strait.
Highly venomous
Photo: The original uploader was Figaro at English Wikipedia. · Public domain (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis porphyriacus
A glossy black snake often seen around creeks, wetlands and farm dams in eastern Australia. Red or pink along the lower sides is a useful clue, but it can be hidden by the snake's position and is much paler in some northern animals.
Venomous
Photo: Max Tibby · CC0 1.0 (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis guttatus
A large dangerous black snake with variable dark, pale and broken-crossbanded forms, recorded from New South Wales and Queensland.
Dangerous; the species is venomous
Elapidae
Pseudechis butleri
A dark-backed mulga snake from arid midwestern Western Australia, with pale-yellow scale centres and irregular darker patches.
Venomous
Photo: Max Tibby · CC0 1.0 (Licence)
Elapidae
Pseudechis weigeli
A venomous black-snake relative recorded in the Kimberley and the Northern Territory.
Dangerously venomous
