Albinism in a Spectacled Cobra, Naja naja (Linnaeus 1758), in Nepal
Author(s): Sabin Adhikari and Tapil Prakash Rai
Abstract
Albinism is a color aberration caused by a congenital lack of melanin (Bechtel 1978; Prüst 1984). Albinos have white or yellowish skin (and scales) and red eyes (Gezova et al. 2018). The estimated ratio of albinism in wild vertebrates is 1:10,000–30,000 (Bechtel 1995), and is rare in adult snakes, presumably because the resultant lack of crypsis would result in high juvenile mortality (Krecsák 2008). Herein we report a case of complete albinism in the Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja), the first record for the genus and a second instance of complete albinism in any Nepalese reptile.

