Hoplocephalus bitorquatus (JAN, 1859)

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Higher Taxa	Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Pale-headed Snake
Synonym	Alecto bitorquata JAN 1859: 128 Hoplocephalus sulcans DE VIS 1884: 138 Hoplocephalus waitii OGILBY 1894: 261 Denisonia angulata DE VIS 1905: 51 Denisonia revelata DE VIS 1911: 22 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — COGGER 1983: 227 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — WELCH 1994: 65 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — COGGER 2000: 657 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 336 Hoplocephalus bitorquatus — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017
Distribution	Australia (New South Wales, Queensland) Type locality: Australia (type info erroneously cites Sydney, N. S. W. as type locality.
Reproduction	ovovivparous
Types	Holotype: SMF 20533 (= 9349a in Boettger, 1893; Mertens, 1922) Syntypes: lost (presumed), from Mitchell district, Qld. [Hoplocephalus sulcans] Holotype: AM 6590, from unknown locality [Hoplocephalus waitii]. Holotype: QM J194, from Qld. [Denisonia angulata]. Holotype: QM J2957, from Stannary Hills, Qld. [Denisonia revelata].
Diagnosis
Comment	Synonymy after COGGER 1983. Venomous! Habitat: fully arboreal (Harrington et al. 2018).
Etymology	Presumably named after the Latin bis (two) plus torquatus (collared), relating to the head pattern. (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 Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp. Covacevich, J. 1968. The Snakes of Brisbane. Brisbane: Queensland Museum 27 pp. De Vis, C. W. 1884. Descriptions of a new snake with a synopsis of the genus Hoplocephalus. Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland 1: 138-140 - get paper here De Vis, C. W. 1911. Description of snakes apparently new. Ann. Qd Mus. 10: 22-25 de Vis, Charles Walter de 1905. A new genus of lizard. On Typhlops torresianus. Ann. Queensland Museum (Brisbane) 6: 48 - get paper here de Vis, Charles Walter de 1905. A new genus of lizard. Ann. Queensland Museum (Brisbane) 6: 46-52 Harrington, Sean M; Jordyn M de Haan, Lindsey Shapiro, Sara Ruane 2018. Habits and characteristics of arboreal snakes worldwide: arboreality constrains body size but does not affect lineage diversification. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (1): 61–71 - get paper here Jan, G. 1859. Plan d'une iconographie descriptive des ophidiens et description sommaire de nouvelles espèces de serpents. Rev. Mag. Zool., Paris (2) (11-12): 122-130 - get paper here Mirtschin, P., Rasmussen, A.R. & Weinstein, S.A. 2017. Australia’s Dangerous snakes. CSIRO Publishing, 424 pp. - get paper here Murphy, Michael J. and Jessica K. Murphy 2015. Survey of the reptiles and amphibians of Merriwindi State Conservation Area in the Pilliga forest of northern inland New South Wales. Australian Zoologist: 37 (4): 517-528 - get paper here Ogilby, J. D. 1894. Description of a new Australian snake. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 9: 261-262 - get paper here Shelton, M. B., & Goldingay, R. L. 2021. Comparative survey techniques for a cryptic Australian snake (Hoplocephalus bitorquatus). Australian Journal of Zoology - get paper here Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp. 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.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/elapidae.pdf http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:823DA8CA-9F68-444A-8460… http://www.qmuseum.qld.gov.au/features/snakes/snakedetail.asp?TaxName… http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Elapidae/Hoplocephalus… https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/aldi-australisches-paar… https://australian.museum/learn/animals/reptiles/pale-headed-snake/ http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Scincidae/Menetia/greyii http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Scincidae/Menetia/concinna Google images

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