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Acanthophis rugosus LOVERIDGE, 1948

IUCN Red List - Acanthophis rugosus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesG: Rauhnackige Todesotter 
SynonymAcanthophis antarcticus rugosus LOVERIDGE 1948: 392
Acanthophis woolfi HOSER 1998
Acanthophis lancasteri bottomi HOSER 1998
Acanthophis bottomi — WELLS 2002
Acanthophis woolfi — WELLS 2002
Acanthophis rugosus — WÜSTER et al. 2004
Acanthophis rugosus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 4
Acanthophis rugosus — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 84 
DistributionIndonesia (Irian Jaya), Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia, NW Queensland)

Type locality: Merauke, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: MCZ 22812 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Head shields very strongly rugose, otherwise like the typical banded form of antarctica figured by Shaw which appears to have smooth head shields [from LOVERIDGE 1948]. 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: A. lancasteri "bottomi" appears to be conspecific with A. rugosus according to mtDNA data (Wüster et al., 2005). 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin rugosus (rough) in reference to the keeled scales on the head and body of this species. It was originally described from New Guinea, where other death adders are noticeably smooth. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Dobiey, Maik; Frank Weinsheimer, Guido Westhoff 2008. Cannibalism in two species of Death Adders (Acanthophis rugosus and A. antarcticus). Ophidia 2 (2): 19-21 - get paper here
  • Eipper T & Eipper S 2024. SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 368 pp. - get paper here
  • Hoser, R. 1998. Death Adders (Genus Acanthophis): An overview, including descriptions of five new species and one subspecies. Monitor 9 (2): 20-41 - get paper here
  • Hoser, Raymond 1998. Colour change in death adders (Acanthophis antarcticus) and other reptiles. Monitor 10 (1): 4; 31 - get paper here
  • Jolly, C., Schembri, B., & Macdonald, S. 2023. Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne - get paper here
  • Jungnickel, J. 2005. Die Haltung und Nachzucht der Rauhnackigen Todesotter Acanthophis rugosus LOVERIDGE 1948. Sauria 27 (1): 9-13 - get paper here
  • Lillywhite, Harvey B. 2014. How Snakes Work: Structure, Function and Behavior of the World's Snakes. Oxford University Press, New York, 256 pp
  • Loveridge, A. 1948. New Guinean reptiles and amphibians in the Museum of Comparative Zoology and United States National Museum. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 101 (2): 305-430. - get paper here
  • MADDOCK, SIMON T.; RYAN J. ELLIS, PAUL DOUGHTY, LAWRENCE A. SMITH & WOLFGANG WÜSTER 2015. A new species of death adder (Acanthophis: Serpentes: Elapidae) from north-western Australia. Zootaxa 4007 (3): 301–326 - get paper here
  • Parkin, T., Jolly, C. J., de Laive, A., & von Takach, B. 2020. Snakes on an urban plain: Temporal patterns of snake activity and human–snake conflict in Darwin, Australia. Austral Ecology - get paper here
  • Shine R, Spencer CL, Keogh JS 2014. Morphology, Reproduction and Diet in Australian and Papuan Death Adders (Acanthophis, Elapidae). PLoS ONE 9(4): e94216 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wells, Richard W. 2002. Taxonomy the Genus Acanthophis (Reptilia: Elapidae) in Australia. Australian Biodiversity Record (5): 1-16
  • 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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