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Demansia angusticeps (MACLEAY, 1888)

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymDiemenia angusticeps MACLEAY 1888
Demansia angusticeps — SHEA & SCANLON 2007
Demansia angusticeps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 213 
DistributionAustralia (Western Australia, Northern Territory: southern Kimberley, from 325 km SW Broome in the south, north-west to Pender Bay, north to “Old Theda” HS [the only record in the northern or central Kimberley] and east to the Victoria River valley).

Type locality: from the vicinity of King’s Sound, WA.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: AMS (AM) R31921 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A moderately large (SVL to 676 mm) Demansia lacking dark or pale nuchal collars or dark spots on anterior ventrals, but possessing a dark transrostral streak that is usually excluded from the orbit and well-developed pale pre- and postocular bars. 
CommentSubspecies: Demansia olivacea rufescens STORR 1978 and Demansia olivacea calodera STORR 1978 have been elevated to species status.

Synonymy: Diemenia angusticeps has been considered as a synonym of Demansia olivacea since BOULENGER 1896 until its resurrection by SHEA & SCANLON 2007.

Phylogenetics: D. angusticeps nests within D. reticulata in a mitochondrial tree, but is separate in a tree based on nuclear DNA.

Venomous! 
EtymologyAlthough not explicitly stated by Macleay, the name angusticeps is presumably derived from the Latin angustus (narrow) and -ceps (head), calling attention to the long narrow head of this and other Demansia.  
References
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Macleay, W. 1888. Notes on some ophidians from King's Sound, north-west Australia. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales (2) 3: 416-418 - get paper here
  • Shea, G.M. & Scanlon 2007. Revision of the small tropical whipsnakes previously referred to Demansia olivacea (Gray, 1842) and Demansia torquata (Guenther, 1862) (Squamata: Elapidae). Rec. Austral. Mus. 59 (2-3): 117-142 - 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.
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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