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Hydrophis lapemoides (GRAY, 1849)

IUCN Red List - Hydrophis lapemoides - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Persian Gulf Sea Snake
Farsi: Mâr-e daryâï-ye khalij-e fârs 
SynonymAturia lapemoides GRAY 1849: 46
Hydrophis lapemoides GÜNTHER 1864
Hydrophis holdsworthii GÜNTHER 1872
Hydrophis stewartii ANDERSON 1872: 399
Hydrophis dayanus STOLICZKA 1872:89 (fide BOULENGER 1890:412)
Distira lapemoides — WERNER 1896
Distira lapemoides — WALL 1909z
Lioselasma [sic] lapemidoides [sic]— WALL 1921: 366
Hydrophis lapemoides SMITH 1926
Hydrophis lapemoides — SMITH 1943: 461
Hydrophis lapemidoides [sic] KENNEDY 1937
Hydrophis (Aturia) lapemoides — MCDOWELL 1972: 229
Aturia lapemoides — WELCH 1994: 25
Chitulia lapemoides — KHARIN 2005
Chitulia lapemoides — KHARIN & DOTSENKO 2012
Hydrophis lapemoides — SANDERS et al. 2012
Chitulia (Chitulia) stewartii — KHARIN 2012
Chitulia (Chitulia) lapemoides — KHARIN 2012
Chitulia lapemoides — WALLACH et al. 2014: 166
Chitulia lapemoides — CHAN-ARD et al. 2015: 277
Hydrophis lapemiodes — HOSSEINIAN-YOUSEFKHANI et al. 2023 (in error) 
DistributionIndian Ocean, Persian Gulf
coasts off Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India (inlcuding Gujarat), Bangladesh,
Malaysia (Penang island), Thailand

Type locality: Ceylon, Madras; restricted to Ceylon by TAYLOR 1950.  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesLectotype: BMNH 1946.1.7.2 (orig. III.3.3.a), a 610 mm female (Zool. Soc. London), designated by Günther, 1864: 375.
Paralectotype: BMNH 1946.1.6.91 (formerly BMNH III.3.3.b; ), "India, Madras" (at present Chennai, 13º 05’N; 80º 17’E, a city in Tamil Nadu State, south-eastern India; in the past Madras Presidency included much of southern India, south of 16° N), fide I. Das, pers. comm. 1 Sep 2017; BMNH 1946.7.9.25, 1946.1.3.88
 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Head slightly small; [8 supralabials, second in contact with prefrontal, third and fourth or third, fourth and fifth touch eye (Gasperetti 1988)]; body elongate but not markedly slender anteriorly; [290–404 ventrals (Volsøe 1939)], slightly distinguishable from adjacent scales; body scales in thickest part of body more or less quadrangular or hexagonal in shape and juxtaposed; [29–31 scale rows on neck, 41–46 on body (Volsøe 1939; REZAIE-ATAGHOLIPOUR et al. 2016: 153, Figures 4d, 21-22).


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CommentVenomous!

Distribution: Not listed by GRANDISON 1977 for West Malaysia or Singapore. Reports from Gujarat have not been confirmed (Patel & Vyas 2019), but see photos from Naman Trivedi. For a map see Sindaco et al. 2013. In Qatar fide Wikipedia. Not in Singapore or not established there (Figueroa et al. 2023).

Habitat: marine. 
References
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  • Bussarawitt,S.; Rasmussen, A.R. & Andersen, M. 1989. A preliminary study on sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) from Phuket Harbor, Phuket Island, Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc., Bangkok 37 (2): 209-225
  • Buzás, Balázs; Balázs Farkas, Eszter Gulyás & Csaba Géczy 2018. The sea snakes (Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) of Fujairah. Tribulus 26: 4-31
  • Carranza S, Xipell M, Tarroso P, Gardner A, Arnold EN, Robinson MD, et al. 2018. Diversity, distribution and conservation of the terrestrial reptiles of Oman (Sauropsida, Squamata). PLoS One 13 (2): e0190389 - get paper here
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  • Chowdhury MAW, Islam MR, Auawal A, Uddin H, Hasan N, Haidar IKA 2021. On the occurrence of Persian Gulf Sea Snake, Hydrophis lapemoides (Gray, 1849) (Reptilia, Squamata, Elapidae, Hydrophiinae), along the coast of Bangladesh. Check List 17(4): 1075-1080 - get paper here
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  • Kharin, V.E. & Dotsenko I.B. 2012. The First Record of the Sea Snake Chitulia inornata Gray, 1849 from the Arabian Sea with Notes on the Composition of the Genus Chitulia Gray, 1849 (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae). [in Russian and English]. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 38 (1): 35–42 - get paper here
  • Kharin, Vladimir E. and Vladimir P. Czeblukov 2007. On First Reliable Record of the Sea Snake Chitulia belcheri (Gray, 1849) from Australian Waters, with Notes on Species Composition and Taxonomic Status of the Genus Chitulia (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology, 33 (3): 161–165. - get paper here
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