Jan's Banded Snake 

of Western Australia

 simoselaps bertholdi

 Harmless mildly venomous 

I am unsure of how many subspecies there are of this small snake but there are possibly  9-11 subspecies in Western Australia.  Jan's banded snake Simoselaps bertholdi and littoralis in the lower half of WA, Desert Banded snake Simoselaps anomolus is in the Pilbara and interior along with the Pilbara Bandy Bandy snake Vermicella Smelli.
  Vermicella multifasciata is the Narrow-banded northern Bandy Bandy snake found around Lake Argile. 
  Simoselaps semifasciatus Southern Half-girdled snake. 
  Simoselaps incinctus Unbanded Shoval-nosed snake.

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum in Perth.

Jan's Banded snake is a small burrowing snake not reaching more than 40cm in total length.  It is in the bertholdi group which has 4 species.

They have a short tail and a blunt head used for pushing through leaf litter and sand.  

They have small eyes and glossy scales which also assists them in their burrowing.

What does it eat?

They feed on burrowing snakes by constricting its prey like a python.  They may also eat small nocturnal reptiles.

In WA it is found from the mid-west coast to the lower westcoast.

Shelters beneath leaf litter, rocks, logs or rubbish left on the ground.

Common on coastal dunes and sandplains supporting heath with banksia and eucalypt woodlands.

Clutches of 1-8 eggs.

Mostly nocturnal partial diurnal.

Text;
"Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region" by Brian Bush, Brad Maryan, Robert Browne-Cooper and David Robinson.
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.

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