This report documents the clinicopathological features of cutaneous chromatophoromas in four wild-caught, captive Australian elapid snakes: a strap-snouted brown snake (Pseudonaja aspidoryncha), a tiger snake (Notechis scutatus), an Eastern brown snake (Pseudonaja textilis) and a Mengden’s brown snake (Pseudonaja mengdeni). All tumours were subclassified as melanophoromas, with three assessed as malignant on the basis of invasive growth or presence of intracoelomic metastases. The chromatophoromas were single or multiple, black or orange pigmented, cutaneous, sometimes ulcerated, plaques or nodules. Microscopically, the neoplastic cells were often spindle shaped with low or variable pigmentation. Neoplastic cells in one tumour were notable for their pleomorphic round cell morphology and high mitotic rate. One snake with late-stage metastasis survived for over 5 years. There are few reports of chromatophoromas in elapid snakes and, to our knowledge, this is the first report of these tumours in Australian elapid snakes.

本报告记录了四种野生捕获的、圈养的澳大利亚 elapid 蛇皮肤色素瘤的临床病理学特征：一条带鼻棕蛇 ( Pseudonaja aspidoryncha)、一条虎蛇 ( Notechis scutatus )、一条东部棕蛇 ( Pseudonaja textilis ) 和一条 Mengden's棕蛇（Pseudonaja mengdeni）。所有肿瘤都被细分为黑色素细胞瘤，其中三个根据侵袭性生长或存在体腔内转移被评估为恶性。色素细胞瘤是单个或多个，黑色或橙色色素，皮肤，有时溃疡，斑块或结节。显微镜下，肿瘤细胞通常呈纺锤形，具有低色素沉着或可变色素沉着。一个肿瘤中的肿瘤细胞以其多形性圆形细胞形态和高有丝分裂率而著称。一条晚期转移的蛇存活了5年多。很少有关于 elapid 蛇 chromatophoromas 的报道，据我们所知，这是澳大利亚 elapid 蛇中这些肿瘤的第一份报告。