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Pseudonaja affinis GÜNTHER, 1872

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
SubspeciesPseudonaja affinis affinis GÜNTHER 1872
Pseudonaja affinis exilis STORR 1989
Pseudonaja affinis tanneri WORRELL 1961 
Common NamesE: Dugite 
SynonymPseudonaja affinis GÜNTHER 1872: 35
Demansia affinis — FRY 1914: 193
Demansia textilis affinis — LOVERIDGE 1934
Demansia nuchalis affinis — WORRELL 1961
Demansia nuchalis tanneri — WORRELL 1961: 56
Pseudonaja nuchalis affinis — WORRELL 1963
Pseudonaja affinis — COGGER 1983: 232
Pseudonaja affinis — COGGER 2000: 670
Dugitophis affinis affinis — WELLS 2002
Pseudonaja affinis charlespiersoni HOSER 2009
Pseudonaja affinis charlespiersoni — HOSER 2012 (preliminary)
Pseudonaja affinis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 604
Pseudonaja affinis — MIRTSCHIN et al. 2017

Pseudonaja affinis exilis STORR 1989
Dugitophis affinis exilis — WELLS 2002
Pseudonaja affinis exilis — HALLERMANN 2020

Pseudonaja affinis tanneri WORRELL 1961
Demansia nuchalis tanneri WORRELL 1961
Dugitophis affinis tanneri — WELLS 2002
Pseudonaja tanneri — BEOLENS et al. 2011 
DistributionAustralia (South Australia, Western Australia)

affinis: coastal SW Western Australia; Type locality: Australia

exilis: Rottnest Island, Western Australia; Type locality: Rottnest Island, Western Australia.

tanneri: Western Australia: Boxer Island and other offshore islands; Type locality: Boxer Island, REcherche Archipelago, Western Australia.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.1.19.77.
Holotype: WAM 19870 [exilis]
Holotype: NMV D9819, from Boxer Is., Recherche Archipelago, W. A. [tanneri] 
DiagnosisOriginal description: “This snake is readily distinguished from P. nuchalis by a greater number of scales, which are arranged in nineteen series. The rostral shield is much produced backwards above, but less so than in its congener. Vertical, two thirds as broad as long. Nostril wide, the division of the nasal being indicated below the nostril only one pra-, two postoculars. Six upper labials, the sixth the largest, as long as the fourth and fifth together. Temporal 1 + 2+3, the anterior the largest, the others scale-like. Ventrals 216 ; anal bifid ; subcaudals ca. 70. Uniform brown above; a few scales, irregularly scattered, are black. Ventral shields yellowish, with a blackish margin.” (Günther 1872: 35)

Updated diagnosis: SKINNER 2009. 
CommentVenomous! 
References
  • Bush, B. 1981. Reptiles of the Kalgoorlie-Esperance Region. B. Bush, Perth, 46 pp - get paper here
  • Bush, B. & Maryan, B. 2006. Snakes and Snake-like Reptiles of Southern Western Australia. Snakes Harmful & Harmless, Stoneville, Perth, Western Australia, 40 pp. - get paper here
  • CLEUREN, SILKE G.C.; MATTHEW B. PATTERSON, DAVID P. HOCKING, NATALIE M. WARBURTON & ALISTAIR R. EVANS. 2022. Fang shape varies with ontogeny and sex in the venomous elapid snake Pseudonaja affinis. Journal of Morphology 283(3): 287–295. - 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.
  • Fry, D. B. 1914. On a collection of reptiles and batrachians from Western Australia. Rec. West. Austral. Mus. 1:174-210 - get paper here
  • Günther,A. 1872. Seventh account of new species of snakes in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 9: 13-37 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 2020. An annotated list of reptiles and amphibians from the 1905 Hamburg expedition to southwest Australia deposited in the Zoological Museum Hamburg. Evolutionary Systematics 4: 61 - get paper here
  • Hoser, R. 2009. Eight new taxa in the genera Pseudonaja Gunther 1858, Oxyuranus Kinghorn 1923, and Panacedechis Wells and Wellington 1985 (Serpentes:Elapidae). Australasian J. Herpetol. 4: 1-27 - get paper here
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • Maryan, Brad 1996. The Dugite or spotted brown snake Pseudonaja affinis. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 26 (2): 22-34
  • Mirtschin, P., Rasmussen, A.R. & Weinstein, S.A. 2017. Australia’s Dangerous snakes. CSIRO Publishing, 424 pp. - get paper here
  • Skinner, Adam 2009. A multivariate morphometric analysis and systematic review of Pseudonaja (Serpentes, Elapidae, Hydrophiinae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 155 (1): 171-197 - get paper here
  • Skinner, Adam; Stephen C. Donnellan; Mark N. Hutchinson and Rhonda G. Hutchinson 2005. A phylogenetic analysis of Pseudonaja (Hydrophiinae, Elapidae, Serpentes) based on mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Volume 37 (2): 558-571 - get paper here
  • Storr, G. M. 1979. Dangerous Snakes of Western Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum Press 3rd edn., 24 pp.
  • Storr, G.M. 1989. A new Pseudonaja (Serpentes, Elapidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Perth 14(3): 421–423
  • 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.
  • Wells, Richard W. 2002. Taxonomy of the Genus Pseudonaja (Reptilia: Elapidae) in Australia. Australian Biodiversity Record (7): 1-41
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
  • Wolfe, Ashleigh K; Philip W Bateman, Patricia A Fleming, 2018. Does urbanization influence the diet of a large snake? Current Zoology, Volume 64, Issue 3, June , Pages 311–318, - get paper here
  • Worrell, E. 1961. A new insular brown snake. Proc. R. Zool. Soc. N. S. W. 1958-59: 56-58 - get paper here
 
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