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Hydrophis hardwickii (GRAY, 1834)

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Hardwicke’s spine-bellied seasnake 
SynonymLapemis hardwickii GRAY 1834: 87
Hydrophis hardwickii — GÜNTHER 1864: 380
Hydrophis hardwickei — BOETTGER 1888: 150 (emendation)
Lapemis hardwickii — STEJNEGER 1907: 435
Lapemis hardwickii — MAKI 1931
Lapemis hardwickii — SMITH 1943: 468
Lapemis hardwickii — GRANDISON 1978: 297
Lapemis curtus hardwickii — MACCARTHY in GOLAY et al. 1993
Lapemis hardwickii — COGGER 2000: 720
Labemis [sic] hardwickii – GROSSMANN & TILLACK 2001
Lapemis hardwickii — FERNER et al. 2001
Hydrophis hardwickii — SANDERS et al. 2012 (by implication) 
DistributionPersian Gulf (United Arab Emirates, Iran)
Indian Ocean (Pakistan ?, Sri Lanka, India)
South China Sea north to the coasts of Fujian and Shandong
Strait of Taiwan, Singapore,
Indoaustralian Archipelago
North coast of Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)
Philippines (Panay, Luzon etc.)
Pacific Ocean (Myanmar (= Burma), Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, New Guinea)

hardwickii: Myanmar, southeast coast of India and the Straits of Malacca, east to Australia and north to China, Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan (fide LEVITON et al. 2003).

Type locality: India  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.18.39 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS).— Body short, stout, neck region not less than half as thick at midbody; head large; scales squarish or hexagonal, juxtaposed, outer 3–4 rows larger than others, scale rows: males 23–31 around neck, females 27–35, around midbody, males 25–27, females 33–41; ventrals small, usually distinct anteriorly, not so posteriorly, in males 114–186, in females 141–230; head shields entire, parietals occasionally divided; nostrils superior, nasals in contact with one another; prefrontal usually in contact with second upper labial; 7–8 upper labials, 3–4 bordering eye; 1 pre- and 1–2 postoculars; 2, rarely 3, anterior temporals; greenish or yellow- olive above, whitish below, 35–50 olive to dark gray dorsal bars, tapering to a point laterally, occasionally encircling body, a narrow dark ventral stripe or broad irregular band occasionally present; adults often lack any pattern and are uniform olive to dark gray; head pale olive to black, yellow markings on snout present or not. Total length 860 mm, tail length 85 mm. [after LEVITON 2003]
 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Voris and Gritis (1990), KHARIN (2005), and WALLACH et al. 2014: 362 included Lapemis hardwickii Gray, 1834 in the synonymy of L. curtus Shaw, 1802. Synonymy and distribution not yet corrected for resurrection of hardwickii from curtus.

Distribution: Not in Pakistan fide KHAN 2002 (pers. comm.). Records from Japan are doubtful and there are apparently no known voucher specimens (Ibuki Fukuyama, pers. comm., 8 Sep 2023)

Type species: Lapemis hardwickii is the type species of the genus Lapemis GRAY in HARDWICKE & GRAY 1834.

Habitat: marine. 
EtymologyNamed after Major-General Thomas Hardwicke (1756-1835) who served in the Bengal army of the Honourable East India Company. He was an amateur naturalist and collector who worked with Gray. 
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
  • Brown, Rafe M.; Ferner, John W.; Sison, Rogelio V.; Gonzales, Pedro C.; Kennedy, Robert S. 1996. Amphibians and reptiles of the Zambales Mountains of Luzon Island, Republic of the Philippines. Herpetological Natural History 4 (1): 1-22
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • DEVAN-SONG, Anne and Rafe M. BROWN 2012. Amphibians and Reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VI: The Herpetofauna of the Subic Bay Area. Asian Herpetological Research 3 (1): 1–20 - get paper here
  • Dunson, William A.;Minton, Sherman A. 1978. Diversity, distribution, and Ecology of Philippine Marine Snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). Journal of Herpetology 12 (3): 281-286 - get paper here
  • Ferner, John W., Rafe M. Brown, Rogelio V. Sison and Robert S. Kennedy 2000. The amphibians and reptiles of Panay Island, Philippines. Asiatic Herpetological Research 9: 1-37 - get paper here
  • FIGUEROA, ALEX; MARTYN E.Y. LOW, KELVIN K.P. LIM 2023. Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution. Zootaxa 5287 (1): 001–378 - get paper here
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  • Gray, J. E. 1843. Description of two new species of reptiles from the collection made during the voyages of H.M.S. Sulphur. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (1) 11: 46 - get paper here
  • Gray. J. E. 1834. Illustrations of Indian Zoology, chiefly selected from the collection of Major - General Hardwicke. Vol. 2. London (1833-1834): 263 pp., 95 plates - get paper here
  • Gritis, P. & H. K. VORIS 1990. Variability and significance of parietal and ventral scales in the marine snakes of the genus Lapemis (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae), with comments on the occurrence of spiny scales in the genus. Fieldiana Zool. n.s. (56): i-iii + 1-13. - get paper here
  • Grossmann,W. & Tillack,F. 2001. Bemerkungen zur Herpetofauna des Khao Lak, Phang Nga, thailändische Halbinsel. Teil II: Reptilia: Serpentes; Testudines; Diskussion. Sauria 23 (1): 25-40 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Herre, Albert W. C. T. 1942. Notes on Philippine sea-snakes. Copeia 1942 (1): 7-9 - get paper here
  • Karthikeyan S. & Balasubramanian, T. 2007. Species diversity of Sea Snake (Hydrophiidae) distributed in the Coramantal Coast (East Coast of India). Int. J. Zool. res. 3 (3): 107-131
  • Kharin, Vladimir E.; Jakob Hallermann 2009. Annotated catalogue of sea kraits (Laticaudidae) and sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) of the herpetological collection of the Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst. 106: 51-67
  • Leviton, Alan E.; Guinevere O.U. Wogan; Michelle S. Koo; George R. Zug; Rhonda S. Lucas and Jens V. Vindum 2003. The Dangerously Venomous Snakes of Myanmar Illustrated Checklist with Keys. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 54 (24): 407–462 - get paper here
  • Longman, H. A. 1918. Notes on some Queensland and Papuan reptiles. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 6: 37-44 - get paper here
  • Maki, M. 1931. Monograph of the Snakes of Japan. Dai-ichi Shobo, Tokyo. (1), 7, 240 pages (expanded edition 1933)
  • Mertens, R. 1930. Die Amphibien und Reptilien der Inseln Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa und Flores. Senck. Naturf. Gesell., Frankfurt am Main, Abhandl. 42(3): 117-344.
  • Nguyen, S.V., Ho, C.T. and Nguyen, T.Q. 2009. Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 768 pp.
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - 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
  • Porter, Robert; Irwin, Steve; Irwin, Terri;Rodrigues, Keith 1997. Records of marine snake species from the Hey-Embley and Mission Rivers, far North Queensland. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (2): 2-7
  • Sanders, K.L.; Michael S.Y. Lee, Mumpuni, Terry Bertozzi, Arne R. Rasmussen 2012. Multilocus phylogeny and recent rapid radiation of the viviparous sea snakes (Elapidae: Hydrophiinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 66 (3): 575-591 - get paper here
  • Shine, Richard; Claire Goiran, Catherine Shilton, Shai Meiri, Gregory P Brown 2019. The life aquatic: an association between habitat type and skin thickness in snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, blz136 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1943. The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London. 583 pp.
  • Stejneger, LEONHARD H. 1907. Herpetology of Japan and adjacent territory. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 58: xx, 1-577 - get paper here
  • Stuebing, R.B. & Voris, H.K. 1990. Relative abundance of marine snakes on the West coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Herpetology 24 (2): 201-202 - get paper here
  • Taylor,E.H. 1965. The serpents of Thailand and adjacent waters. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 45 (9): 609-1096 - get paper here
 
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