Inland taipan Wombey argued that "Parademansia microlepidotus" belongs to a distinct genus, and this was also the opinion of Harold Cogger. Covacevich, McDowell, Tanner & Mengden (1981) successfully argued, by comparing anatomical features, chromosomes and behaviour of the two species then known as "Oxyuranus scutellatus" (taipan) and "Parademansia microlepidota", that they belonged in a single genus. "Oxyuranus" (1923), the more senior name, was adopted for the combined genus. "Oxyuranus microlepidotus" has been the fierce snake's binomial name since the early 1980s. The generic name, "Oxyuranus", means "oxus" (Greek) "sharp pointed", "oura" (Greek) "tail"; "-anus" (Latin) "belonging to", and refers to the inland
Coastal taipan being bitten, but the average is around 2.5 hours. The time between a bite and death depends on various factors such as the nature of the bite and the constitution of the victim. Untreated bites have a mortality rate of 100% as the coastal taipan always delivers a fatal dose of venom (an average bite delivers 10-12x the lethal dose of venom for a human adult male), and medical professionals recommend that victims seek immediate medical attention even for apparently minor bites. Before the introduction of specific antivenom by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in 1956, nearly all bites were fatal.