Inland taipan summer), the darker colour allowing the snake to heat itself while only exposing a smaller portion of the body at the burrow entrance. The eye is of average size with a blackish brown iris and without a noticeable coloured rim around the pupil. It has 23 rows of dorsal scales at midbody, between 55 and 70 divided subcaudal scales, and one anal scale. The inland taipan averages approximately in total length, although larger specimens can reach total lengths of . Its fangs are between 3.5 and 6.2 mm long (shorter than those of the coastal taipan). Inland taipans adapt to
Taipan Taipan The taipans are snakes of the genus Oxyuranus in the elapid family. They are large, fast-moving, highly venomous, and endemic to Australasia. There are currently three recognised species, one of which, the coastal taipan, has two subspecies. The taipans are considered some of the most deadly known snakes. The common name, taipan, was coined by anthropologist Donald Thomson after the word used by the Wik-Mungkan Aboriginal people of central Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. The genus name is from Greek "oxys" (sharp, needle-like) and "ouranos" (an arch, specifically the arch of the heavens), and refers to the needle-like anterior