Great Britain has always been thought to be home to a single venomous snake species, the adder. Although its bites are rarely life-threatening, they will require a trip to A&E and more than likely ruin your week. On the other hand, the other two native British snakes, the grass and smooth snakes, have been largely considered non-venomous.
This status quo has been shaken by a new paper by herpetologists Alessandro Paterna and Grégoire Meier suggesting that the smooth snake should be reclassified as venomous. The teeth at the back of its maxilla (the outer upper jaw) are somewhat grooved. They are surrounded by a sheath of gum tissue typical of so-called rear-fanged snakes, which can inject small quantities of venom into their prey.
