Abstract
The DNA data of Indian snakes are scanty in the global database, especially from the northeastern states. The present study generated the mitochondrial Cytochrome b gene information of two morphologically identified deadly elapid species from Mizoram. Both, the King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) and Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus) showed monophyletic clades in the BA topology and cohesively clustered with the database sequences generated from distant geographical locations. The studied O. hannah depicted 2.7–7.6% K2P genetic distances with the specimens collected from China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Further, the northeast Indian B. fasciatus revealed 3.3–4% K2P genetic distance from Chinese, Vietnamese, Thailand, Indonesian, and Australian specimens. The TCS network showed distinct haplotypes for both the species collected from northeast India. The genetic information of these venomous snakes would be helpful for further rapid identification from the museum as well as from road-killed specimens, curbing the venom poaching and medical avenues.
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