KRAIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does krait mean? 

• KRAIT (noun)
  The noun KRAIT has 1 sense:

1. brightly colored venomous but nonaggressive snake of southeastern Asia and Malay peninsula

  Familiarity information: KRAIT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KRAIT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Brightly colored venomous but nonaggressive snake of southeastern Asia and Malay peninsula

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("krait" is a kind of...):

elapid; elapid snake (any of numerous venomous fanged snakes of warmer parts of both hemispheres)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "krait"):

banded adder; banded krait; Bungarus fasciatus (sluggish krait banded with black and yellow)

Holonyms ("krait" is a member of...):

Bungarus; genus Bungarus (kraits)

 Context examples 

“Surprisingly, the tested Indian antivenom also poorly neutralised the venom of the northern population of the common krait, one of the ‘big four’ against which it is produced,” Sunagar says.

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)

These findings demonstrate that elapid snakes, such as cobras, kraits and sea snakes—were present in Africa as early as 25 million years ago.

(Researchers find oldest fossil evidence of modern African venomous snakes, NSF)

Snakes not covered by the available antivenom include India’s most venomous snake, the Sind krait (Bungarus sindanus).

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)

However, in the study, Senji Laxme from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and colleagues show that the antivenom used in India works only against the ‘big four’ — the common krait (Bungarus caeruleus), spectacled cobra (Naja naja), saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus) and Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii) — but not against several other medically important species.

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)

The researchers studied the venom composition, activities and toxicities of India’s neglected venomous snake species, including the monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia), Sochurek's saw-scaled viper (Echis carinatus sochureki), banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus), and Sind krait, and found that the standard Indian antivenom had disturbing deficiencies.

(‘India needs region-specific snakebite antivenoms’, SciDev.Net)