Wonambi

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Wonambi
Fossil range: Pleistocene-Holocene

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Sauropsida
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	†Madtsoiidae
Genus:	†Wonambi

Type species

†Wonambi naracoortensis
Smith

Species

Wonambi barriei Scanlon
Wonambi naracoortensis

Wonambi, part of the extinct megafauna of Australia, is a genus containing two species of very large snakes. These species are not pythons, like Australia's other large constrictors of the genus Morelia, but a member of a now extinct family Madtsoiidae.

1 Diversity
2 Description
3 Taxonomy and naming
4 Ecology
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Diversity

The type species for this genus is Wonambi naracoortensis, a five to six metre long snake, the only other known species is Wonambi barriei.^[1]

[edit] Description

Wonambi seem to have been non-venomous ambush predators. Rather than using venom, the animal would kill its prey by constriction. The head of the animal was small, restricting the size of its prey.

[edit] Taxonomy and naming

W. naracoortensis was first described from fossils collected at Naracoorte, South Australia, the first extinct snake to be found in Australia.^[2]

It was given the name Wonambi from the description, by the local Aboriginal people, of a serpent of the Dreamtime. This serpent, a mythological being commonly referred to by both Aboriginal people and Europeans as the Rainbow Serpent, were often held responsible for the creation of major features of the landscape. The Wagyl of the Western Australian Noongar people is thought to correlate to the South Australian people's Wonambi.

The family of this species, Madtsoiidae, became extinct in other parts of the world around 55 million years ago, but new species continued to evolve in Australia. These species are the last known to have existed, becoming extinct in the last 50 000 years.^[2]

[edit] Ecology

The snake lived during the Pleistocene Ice Age period, in natural sun-traps beside local waterholes, where they would ambush kangaroo, wallaby and other prey coming to the water to drink. For this reason, children were forbidden in Aboriginal culture to play at such places, and only allowed to visit when accompanied by an adult. Mapping such locations in Western Australia, has been found to be closely associated with areas the Noongar people regard as Waugal sacred sites.

Tim Flannery claims that this animal, along with other Australian megafauna, became extinct as a result of activities of the Australian Aborigines (for example firestick farming).^[3]