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Hydrophis peronii (DUMÉRIL, 1853)

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Spiny-headed seasnake
Chinese: 棘眦海蛇 
SynonymAcalyptus Peronii DUMÉRIL 1853
Acalyptus superciliosus Peroni — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1854: 1340
Acalyptus superciliosus — FISCHER 1856: 37
Acalyptophis peronii BOULENGER 1896: 269
Pseudodisteira horrida KINGHORN 1926
Acalyptophis peronii — SMITH 1974: 105
Acalyptophis peroni — HARDING & WELCH 1980
Acalyptophis peronii — COX et al. 1998: 34
Acalyptophis peronii — MURPHY, COX & VORIS 1999
Acalyptophis peronii — COGGER 2000: 698
Acalyptophis peronii — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 518
Hydrophis peronii — SANDERS et al. 2012
Acalyptophis peronii — WALLACH et al. 2014: 3
Acalyptophis peronii — COGGER 2014: 813
Acalyptophis peronii — CHAN-ARD et al. 2015: 268 
DistributionGulf of Siam, Vietnam, Thailand,
China (South Chinese sea, coast of Guangdong and Strait of Taiwan),
Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia,
Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)

Type locality: New Holland (= Australia)  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 7711 
DiagnosisDESCRIPTION. Head short, small, diameter of neck one third to two-thirds that of the greatest diameter of body; rostril distinctly broader than deep; supraocular with raised, pointed posterior border; 19–23 scale rows on neck, 23–29 around body, with short keels, stronger and spinose in males; ventrals 142–206, as broad as or slightly narrower than adjacent body scales; greyish or pale brown above, whitish below, with or without dark dorsal bars tapering to points on sides; narrow ventral bands or spots may be present (from Leviton et al. 2014: 509).

Diagnostic characters: The only sea snake with spines on the head: parietal and frontal scales broken up, supra- and postoculars and adjacent scales with spines posteriorly. Scale rows around neck 18–24, rarely up to 27; scale rows around body 23–31, rarely 21 or 32; ventrals 142–222. Maxillary teeth behind fangs 5–8.

Colouration: Body cream, grey or pale brown above, paler below, with brown/black bands, which are brighter ventrally. Sometimes has dark small bars or spots between the bands, tapering to a point on the sides.

See also description in Smith 1974.

Characters (Acalyptophis): McDowell 1972: 232 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: partly after COGGER 1983.

Illustration: Plate 40E in ZHAO & ADLER 1993.

Type species: this is the type species of the genus Acalyptophis BOULENGER 1896. The genus Acalyptus is preoccupied by Acalyptus Schoenherr 1836 (Coleoptera).

Distribution: not in New South Wales fide Swan et al. 2017, Field Guide.

Habitat: marine 
EtymologyNamed after François Peron (1775-1810), French voyager and naturalist. 
References
  • Bauer, A. M. & SADLIER, R. A. 2000. The herpetofauna of New Caledonia. Contributions to Herpetology, 17; Society for Study Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York.
  • Bauer, Aaron M.;Vindum, Jens V. 1990. A checklist and key to the herpetofauna of New Caledonia, with remarks on biogeography. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 47 (2): 17-45 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Chan-ard, T., Parr, J.W.K. & Nabhitabhata, J. 2015. A field guide to the reptiles of Thailand. Oxford University Press, NY, 352 pp. [see book reviews by Pauwels & Grismer 2015 and Hikida 2015 for corrections] - get paper here
  • 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.
  • Cox, Merel J.; Van Dijk, Peter Paul; Jarujin Nabhitabhata & Thirakhupt,Kumthorn 1998. A Photographic Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Ralph Curtis Publishing, 144 pp.
  • Das, I. 2012. A Naturalist's Guide to the Snakes of South-East Asia: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Borneo, Sumatra, Java and Bali. Oxford J, ohn Beaufoy Publishing - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C., Bibron, G. & DUMÉRIL, A. H. A., 1854. Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles. Tome septième. Deuxième partie, comprenant l'histoire des serpents venimeux. Paris, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret: i-xii + 781-1536 - get paper here
  • Duméril, ANDRÉ MARIE CONSTANT 1853. Prodrome de la classifcation des reptiles ophidiens. Mém. Acad. Sci., Paris, 23: 399-536 - get paper here
  • Fischer, J.G. 1856. Die Familie der Seeschlangen. Abhandl. Nat. Ver. Hamburg 3: 1-78 - get paper here
  • Kharin, V. E. 2006. An Annotated Checklist of Sea Snakes of Vietnam, with Notes on a New Record of the Yellow-Lipped Sea Krait, Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799)(Laticaudidae, Hydrophiidae). Russian Journal of Marine Biology 32 (4): 223–228. - get paper here
  • Leviton, A.E., R.M. Brown, and C.D. Siler. 2014. The dangerously venomous snakes of the Philippine Archipelago. in The Coral Triangle: The 2011 Hearst Biodiversity Philippine Expedition (G.C. Williams and T.M. Gosliner, eds.). California Academy of Sciences, USA, Pp 473–530
  • Longman, H. A. 1915. Reptiles from Queensland and the Northern Territory. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 3: 30-34. - get paper here
  • Murphy,J.C.; Cox,M.J. & Voris,H.K. 1999. A key to the sea snakes in the gulf of Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. 47: 95-108
  • O'Shea,M. 1996. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Independent Publishing, Port Moresby, xii + 239 pp. - get paper here
  • O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - 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
  • RASMUSSEN, ARNE REDSTED; JOHAN ELMBERG, PETER GRAVLUND & IVAN INEICH 2011. Sea snakes (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) in Vietnam: a comprehensive checklist and an updated identification key. Zootaxa 2894: 1–20 - get paper here
  • RASMUSSEN, ARNE REDSTED; KATE LAURA SANDERS, MICHAEL L. GUINEA & ANDREW P. AMEY 2014. Sea snakes in Australian waters (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae)—a review with an updated identification key. Zootaxa 3869 (4): 351–371 - get paper here
  • 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, L. A. 1974. The sea snakes of Western Australia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) with a description of a new subspecies. Rec. West. Aust. Mus. 3: 93-110 - 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
  • VORIS, HAROLD K. 2017. Diversity of Marine Snakes on Trawling Grounds in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. Tropical Natural History 17 (2): 65–87 - 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.
  • Wang, Kai; Jinlong Ren, Hongman Chen, Zhitong Lyu, Xianguang Guo Ke Jiang, Jinmin Chen, Jiatang Li, Peng Guo, Yingyong Wang, Jing Che 2020. The updated checklists of amphibians and reptiles of China. Biodiversity Science 28 (2): 189-218 - get paper here
  • Weinell, Jeffrey L.; Errol Hooper, Alan E. Leviton, Rafe M. Brown 2019. Illustrated Key to the Snakes of the Philippines. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (4) 66 (1): 1-49 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Zhao, E.M. 2006. The snakes of China [in Chinese]. Hefei, China, Anhui Sience & Technology Publ. House, Vol. I, 372 pp., Vol. II (color plates), 280 pp.
  • Zhao,E. & Adler,K. 1993. Herpetology of China. SSAR, Oxford/Ohio, 1-522
 
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