Papuan death adder
Acanthophis rugosus Loveridge, 1948
Status not recordedsnakes
The papuan death adder (Acanthophis rugosus) is a species in the family Elapidae, order Squamata. Recorded adults weigh about 384 g and live up to 9.3 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Indonesia.
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Quick facts about the papuan death adder
- Weight
- 384 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- up to 95 cmsrc for Length
- Lifespan
- 9.3 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 15.5 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- grassland, shrublandsrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- 16 – 19.5src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 9.46 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Reproduction
- Live birthsrc for Reproduction
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- 1 countrysrc for Countries on record
Where does the papuan death adder live?
Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.
The papuan death adder is listed for 1 country.
- Listed
- Not listed
The same countries as a list
Why a country list is not a range map
Listed by: ReptileDB (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.
Is the papuan death adder endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the papuan death adder classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classReptilia
- orderSquamata
- familyElapidae
- genusAcanthophis
- SpeciesAcanthophis rugosus Loveridge, 1948
Synonyms Acanthophis antarcticus rugosus, Acanthophis bottomi, Acanthophis lancasteri bottomi, Acanthophis woolfi
Other names and names in other languages (5)
- Rough-scaled death adderEnglish
- Raunackige TodesotterGerman
- Rauhnackige TodesotterGerman
- indonéz halálkígyóHungarian
- Vipera della morte rugosaItalian
Relatives of the papuan death adder
Other species in the same genus Acanthophis.
Death adder
Acanthophis antarcticus
Desert death adder
Acanthophis pyrrhus
Northern death adder
Acanthophis praelongus
New Guinea death adder
Acanthophis laevis
Plains death adder
Acanthophis hawkei
Pilbara death adder
Acanthophis wellsi
ComparePapuan death adder vs Death adderPapuan death adder vs Desert death adderPapuan death adder vs Northern death adderPapuan death adder vs New Guinea death adder
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the papuan death adder?
An adult papuan death adder weighs 384 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Where does the papuan death adder live?
Catalogue of Life checklists list the papuan death adder for 1 country: Indonesia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.
How long does the papuan death adder live?
The papuan death adder has a recorded lifespan of 9.3 years.
What kind of animal is the papuan death adder?
The papuan death adder (Acanthophis rugosus) belongs to the family Elapidae in the order Squamata.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-14. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4 - SquamBase 1.0 - a dataset of squamate species traits · CC0 1.0 · 1.0-dryad-v5
Meiri, S. (2024) SquamBase - a database of squamate (Reptilia: Squamata) traits. Global Ecology and Biogeography 33(4): e13812. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13812. Data: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t3b
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Papuan death adder (Acanthophis rugosus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/papuan-death-adder
“Papuan death adder (Acanthophis rugosus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/papuan-death-adder.
@misc{papuan_death_adder_2026,
title = {Papuan death adder (Acanthophis rugosus)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/papuan-death-adder},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-14}
}