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Pseudechis weigeli (WELLS & WELLINGTON, 1987)

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymCannia weigeli WELLS & WELLINGTON 1987
Cannia (Pseudechis) australis burgessi HOSER 2001
Cannia (Pseudechis) australis newmani HOSER 2001
Cannia (Pseudechis) australis aplini HOSER 2001
Pailsus weigeli — HOSER 2002
Pseudechis weigeli — WÜSTER et al. 2004
Pseudechis weigeli — WILSON & SWAN 2008
Pseudechis weigeli — MADDOCK et al. 2016 
DistributionAustralia (Kimberley ranges)

Type locality: Port Essington, N.T., Australia  
Reproductionoviparous (ovoviviparous) 
TypesHolotype: WAM R98871 (formerly AMS R123995, originally cited as Australian Zoological Museum [authors' collection] 1000), Mitchell River, ca 2 km upstream from Mitchell Falls, WA, collected J. Weigel 12.i.1989). Also given as BMNH 1946.1.20.39, but now in WAM.
Holotype: AM R31927, from Port Darwin, N. T. [darwiniensis]
Holotype: none; description based on literature records (see also under Pseudonaja textilis Duméril, Bibron and Duméril, 1854), from "Murray River", N. S. W. /Vic. [cupreus]
Holotype: not found, from Eradu, W. A. [denisonioides]
Holotype: NMV D12355, from East Alligator River, Arnhem Land, N. T. [Pseudechis platycephalus]
Holotype: SAMA R3151, from Mount Wedge, near Elliston on the W coast of Eyre Peninsula, S. A. [brunnea] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy partly after COGGER 1983. Wüster et al. (2004) consider Pailsus rossignolii and Pseudechis weigeli as a valid species based on DNA sequence divergence. This was confirmed by MADDOCK et al. 2016. Listed as synonym of Pseudechis australis by WALLACH et al. 2014: 596.

Distribution: see map of localities in MADDOCK et al. 2016.

Venomous! 
EtymologyNamed after John Randall Weigel (b. 1955), who dropped out of university and worked as a keeper and showman at the California Alligator Farm. He emigrated to Australia (1981) and since then has worked at the Australian Reptile Park, New South Wales, buying the business (1984) and becoming its Director in partnership with a local businessman. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum, Vol. 3. London (Taylor & Francis), xiv + 727 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Even,Eddy 2005. Reptielen zoeken in Australië. Lacerta 63 (2): 48-65 - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1842. Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian reptiles and batrachians. Zoological Miscellany 2: 51—57 (London: Treuttel, Würtz & Co) - get paper here
  • Hoser, R. 2001. A current assessment of the status of the snakes of the genera Cannia and Pailsus, including descriptions of three new subspecies from the Northern Territory and Western Australia, Australia. Boydii: Journal of the Herpetological Society of Queensland (July 2001): 26-60 - get paper here
  • Hoser, Raymond 2000. A New Species of Snake (Serpentes: Elapidae) from Irian Jaya. Litteratura Serpentium 20 (6):178-186 - get paper here
  • Kinghorn, J. Roy 1924. Reptiles and batrachians from south and south-west Australia. Rec. Austral. Mus. 14 (3): 163-183 - get paper here
  • Kuch, Ulrich; J. Scott Keogh; John Weigel; Laurie A. Smith & Dietrich Mebs 2005. Phylogeography of Australia s king brown snake (Pseudechis australis) reveals Pliocene divergence and Pleistocene dispersal of a top predator. Naturwissenschaften 92:121–127 - get paper here
  • Mackay, R. D. 1955. A revision of the genus Pseudechis. Proc. R. Zool. Soc. N. S. W. 1953-54: 15-23 - get paper here
  • Macleay, W. 1878. Notes on a collection of snakes from Port Darwin. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2: 219-222 - get paper here
  • Maddock, Simon T.;Aaron Childerstone, Bryan Grieg Fry, David J. Williams , Axel Barlow, Wolfgang Wüster 2016. Multi-locus phylogeny and species delimitation of Australo-Papuan blacksnakes (Pseudechis Wagler, 1830: Elapidae: Serpentes). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 107: 48-55 [2017, but published online 2016] - get paper here
  • Maryan, Brad 1997. Is "King Brown Snake" and appropriate common name for Pseudechis australis? Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (2): 20-22
  • Mattison, Chris 2007. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press
  • Mitchell, F. J. 1951. The South Australian Reptile Fauna. Part. 1. Ophidia. Rec. South Austral. Mus. 9: 545—557. - get paper here
  • O'Shea,M. 1996. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Independent Publishing, Port Moresby, xii + 239 pp. - get paper here
  • Smith L A 1982. Variation in Pseudechis australis (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia and description of a new species of Pseudechis. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 10 (1): 35-45 - get paper here
  • Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney
  • Thomson, D. F. 1933. Notes on the Australian snakes of the genera Pseudechis and Oxyuranus. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1933: 855-860
  • Werner, F. 1909. Reptilia exkl. Geckonidae und Scincidae. In: Michaelsen, W., and R. Hartmeyer. Die Fauna Südwest-Australiens. Vol. 2., pp. 263-270. G. Fischer, Wien.
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Wilson,S. & Swan, G. 2008. A complete guide to the Reptiles of Australia, 2nd ed. Princeton University Press
  • Wüster, W., B. Bush, J. S. Keogh, M. O'Shea, and R. Shine 2001. Taxonomic contributions in the "amateur" literature: comments on recent descriptions of new genera and species by Raymond Hoser. Litteratura Serpentium 21 (3): 86-91 - get paper here
  • Wüster, Wolfgang; Alex J. Dumbrell; Chris Hay; Catharine E. Pook; David J. Williams and Bryan Grieg Fry 2004. Snakes across the Strait: trans-Torresian phylogeographic relationships in three genera of Australasian snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Acanthophis, Oxyuranus, and Pseudechis). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33 (3): 1-14 - get paper here
 
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