1
Black Mamba
Dendroaspis polylepis
Africa's fastest snake and one of the most feared elapids, named for the inky black lining of its mouth rather than its skin colour.
Below are snakes that contain the letter M anywhere in the name. Each of the 24 snakes below opens to a full profile.
Table of contents
List of Snakes That Contain M
2
Boomslang
Dispholidus typus
A large-eyed, slender African tree snake with potent rear-fanged hemotoxic venom and remarkable colour differences between the sexes.
3
Burmese Python
Python bivittatus
One of the world's largest snakes, a Southeast Asian giant now infamous as an invasive species in the Everglades of Florida.
4
Bushmaster
Lachesis muta
The largest viper in the Americas, a long-fanged neotropical pit viper feared in rainforest villages from Nicaragua to Brazil.
5
Common Garter Snake
Thamnophis sirtalis
A small, harmless North American snake with three pale stripes down a dark back, one of the most familiar wild snakes on the continent.
6
Common Krait
Bungarus caeruleus
A glossy black-and-white South Asian elapid responsible for many bites at night because it readily enters homes and beds.
7
Dusky Pygmy Rattlesnake
Sistrurus miliarius barbouri
A tiny, irritable Florida rattlesnake whose rattle is so small that it sounds more like an insect buzz than a warning.
8
Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus adamanteus
The largest rattlesnake in the world, a heavy-bodied pit viper of the longleaf pine ecosystems of the American Southeast.
9
Green Mamba
Dendroaspis angusticeps
A vivid emerald-green arboreal elapid of East African coastal forests, far shyer and more retiring than its infamous black cousin.
10
Jamaican Boa
Chilabothrus subflavus
A handsome yellow-and-black Caribbean constrictor endemic to Jamaica, critically reduced by introduced mongooses and habitat loss.
11
Madagascar Tree Boa
Sanzinia madagascariensis
A handsome iridescent arboreal boa endemic to the rainforests of eastern Madagascar, one of three native boa species on the island.
12
Mangrove Snake
Boiga dendrophila
A striking black-and-yellow Southeast Asian colubrid with rear fangs, found coiled in low branches over tidal estuaries.
13
Massasauga
Sistrurus catenatus
A small, secretive prairie rattlesnake of the central United States and southern Ontario, the only rattlesnake native to Canada.
14
Milk Snake
Lampropeltis triangulum
A widely distributed, brightly banded constrictor whose mimicry of coral snakes inspired the famous "red touches black, friend of Jack" rhyme.
15
Mojave Rattlesnake
Crotalus scutulatus
A green-tinged desert rattlesnake of the American Southwest whose venom mixes hemorrhagic and powerful neurotoxic components.
16
Mussurana
Clelia clelia
A large, snake-eating South American colubrid considered a natural ally of cattle ranchers because it hunts venomous pit vipers.
17
Smooth Snake
Coronella austriaca
A small, slim European colubrid with mirror-smooth scales, scarce and protected across most of its northern range.
18
Sumatran Pit Viper
Trimeresurus sumatranus
A small green arboreal pit viper of high-elevation Indonesian forests, distinguished by tiny scales on the head and a yellow eye.
19
Timber Rattlesnake
Crotalus horridus
A large, heavy-bodied rattlesnake of eastern North American hardwood forests, calm by nature and culturally important in colonial American history.
20
Usambara Bush Viper
Atheris ceratophora
A small, glittering arboreal viper of the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania, with strongly keeled scales that give it a rough armoured look.
21
Western Diamondback Rattlesnake
Crotalus atrox
The most widespread rattlesnake in the American Southwest, responsible for a large share of snakebites across the desert states.
22
Worm Snake
Carphophis amoenus
A tiny, pink-bellied burrower of eastern North American woodlands that looks more like an earthworm than a typical snake.
23
Xenodermus
Xenodermus javanicus
A bizarre Southeast Asian dragon snake with three rows of raised dorsal scales that look more like a row of small spines than ordinary scales.
24
Yamakagashi
Rhabdophis tigrinus
A handsome rear-fanged Japanese natricine snake with unusual neck glands that sequester toxins from the toads it eats.
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