Inland taipan
Belcher's sea snake ("Hydrophis belcheri"), which many times is mistakenly called the hook-nosed sea snake ("Enhydrina schistosa"), has been erroneously popularized as the most venomous snake in the world, due to Ernst and Zug's published book "Snakes in Question: The Smithsonian Answer Book" from 1996. Bryan Grieg Fry, a prominent venom expert, has clarified the error: "The hook-nosed myth was due to a fundamental error in a book called "Snakes in Question". In there, all the toxicity testing results were lumped in together, regardless of the mode of testing (e.g. subcutaneous vs. intramuscular vs intravenous vs intraperitoneal). As the mode can influence the relative number, venoms can only be compared within a mode. Otherwise, it's apples and rocks." Belcher's sea snake's actual LD (recorded only intramuscularly) is 0.24 mg/kg and 0.155 mg/kg, less lethal than other sea snakes such as the olive sea snake ("Aipysurus laevis") 0.09 mg/kg and the most toxic intramuscularly, recorded of the sea snakes – the black-banded robust sea snake ("Hydrophis melanosoma") 0.082 mg/kg. The black-banded robust sea snake has also been tested subcutaneously registering at 0.111 mg/kg. more than four times less toxic than the inland taipan's venom. In the LD subcutaneous test, it is actually Dubois' sea snake ("Aipysurus duboisii") which has the most toxic venom of any of the sea snakes tested, registering at 0.044 mg/kg. This is still nearly half as lethal as the inland taipan's venom.
List of dangerous snakes
The cobras ("Naja spp") are a medically important group of snakes due to the number of bites and fatalities they cause across their geographical range. The genus "Naja" consists of 20 to 22 species, but has undergone several taxonomic revisions in recent years, so sources vary greatly. They range throughout Africa (including some parts of the Sahara where "Naja haje" can be found), Southwest Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The most recent revision, listed 28 species after the synonymisation of "Boulengerina" and "Paranaja" with "Naja". But unlike some other members of the family Elapidae (the species of the genus "Bungarus", genus "Oxyuranus", genus "Pseudohaje", and especially genus "Dendroaspis"), half of the bites by many species of both African and Asian origin of the genus "Naja" are "dry bites" (a dry bite is a bite by a venomous snake in which no venom is released). Roughly 45-50% of bites by most cobra species are dry bites and thus don't cause envenomation. Some of the species which are known and documented to deliver dry bites in a majority of cases (50% +) include: "Naja naja", "Naja kaouthia", "Naja sputatrix", "Naja siamensis", "Naja haje", "Naja annulifera", "Naja anchietae" and "Naja nigricollis". Some species will inject venom in the majority of their bites, but still deliver high number of dry bites (40-45%) include: "Naja sumatrana", "Naja melanoleuca", "Naja atra", "Naja mossambica" and "Naja katiensis". Within this genus, there are a few species in which dry bites are very rare. Envenoming occurs in at least 75-80% of bite cases involving these species. The species which typically cause envenomation in the majority of their bites include some of the more dangerous and venomous species of this genus: "Naja oxiana", "Naja philippinensis", "Naja nivea", and "Naja samarensis". There are many more species within the genus which have not yet been subject to much research and studies, and as a result, very little is known about their behaviour, venom, diet, habitat and general temperaments. Some of these species include "Naja sagittifera", "Naja annulata", "Naja christyi" and many others.