Furina diadema (SCHLEGEL, 1837)
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Furina diadema
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Red-naped Snake G: Rothalsotter |
| Synonym | Calamaria diadema SCHLEGEL 1837: 32 Furina diadema — DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 1239 Rabdion occipitale GIRARD 1858: 181 Brachysoma diadema — GÜNTHER 1863 Pseudelaps diadema — JAN 1863 Cacophis blackmanii KREFFT 1869: 77 Denisonia bancrofti DE VIS 1911: 23 Pseudelaps diadema — BOULENGER 1896: 319 ? Brachysoma diadema — WORRELL 1963 Aspidomorphus diadema — MINTON et al. 1970 Furina diadema — COGGER 1983: 225 Furina diadema — WELCH 1994: 63 Furina diadema — COGGER 2000: 651 Furina diadema — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Furina diadema — WALLACH et al. 2014: 298 |
| Distribution | Australia (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria) Type locality: Australia; restricted to Port Jackson, N. S. W. by Duméril, Bibron & Duméril (1854). |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: MNHN-RA 7668, collected Quoy & Gaimard, designated by Wells & Wellington (1985). Other syntype: MNHN-RA 3941. Holotype: unknown, from Australia [Rabdion occipitale]. Holotype: AM 6674, from Pine Mt., near Ipswich, Qld. [Cacophis blackmanii] Syntypes (?): from Stannary Hills, Qld., QM J195, QM J12881 fide Covacevich (1971). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Scanlon (2003) provisionally recognizes “a (Glyphodon (Furina (Neelaps, Simoselaps))) clade which can be diagnosed as follows: nasal and second supralabial separated from the preocular (reversing twice in fossorial lineages); ventral surface white; dorsal scales highly glossed; eyes dark (Scanlon, 1985; Hutchinson, 1990; characters discussed below). Glyphodon spp. lack additional derived states shared by Furina with Simoselaps and Neelaps spp.: postorbital bones with kinetic attachment to parietal (involved in mechanism for maxillary erection and retraction; McDowell, 1969a; Scanlon, 1985); frontal may contact preocular scales (rare to common variant, [Storr, 1968, 1981], never observed in Glyphodon or any other elapid genera, pers. obs.); black head and nape blotches contrasting with the dorsal ground colour and separated by a distinct pale spot or bar; and a reticulate dorsal pattern where each scale may have a black edge, yellow basal spot and red intermediate zone (three distinct pigments; [Storr, 1968]). Cacophis spp. lack most of these derived features and retain the alternate states common to most other Australasian taxa (preocular contacts second labial and frequently nasal; ventrals strongly pigmented; scales less glossy; eyes pale; postorbital lacks anteroposterior kinesis; no contact of preocular and frontal scales; occipital and dorsal ground colour similar; pale spots on dorsal scales single-coloured), and can thus be excluded from the (Glyphodon (Furina (Neelaps, Simoselaps))) clade. Thus Glyphodon and Furina, either alone or together with Simoselaps and Neelaps (Scanlon, 1985, 1988: Fig. I), form a close outgroup to Cacophis (Hutchinson, 1990; Keogh, 1999).” |
| Comment | Synonymy partly after COGGER 1983. Type species: Calamaria diadema SCHLEGEL 1837 is the type species of the genus Furina Duméril, 1853. Synonymy: Furina and Glyphodon were synonymized as Furina by Hutchinson (1990), in part to deal with the apparent problem of classifying Glyphodon barnardi Kinghorn, 1939. Cogger's (1975) key to genera purports to distinguish the genera on the criterion of 'nasal undivided' (Furina) vs. 'nasal divided' (Glyphodon), but in fact G. barnardi has the nasal undivided and would be assigned to Furina by this criterion. Venomous! |
| Etymology | Named after diadema (diadem, headband), alluding “Une tache occipitale blanchâtre, en forme de bande transversale, renfermée dans le noir profond du dessus de la tête, a donné lieu à la dénomination que porte cette nouvelle espèce.” (Schlegel 1837: 32). The genus Furina was presumably named after Latin furina (probably referring to the goddess Furina, an infernal deity popularly associated with the Furies, but perhaps also meaning the Devil personified, or merely a robber), alluding to the nature of the snakes, although Duméril (1853: 517) gave no hint of his meaning (Meagher 2012). |
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