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Rhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER, 1885

IUCN Red List - Rhinoplocephalus bicolor - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Square-nosed Snake, Muller's Snake 
SynonymRhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER 1885: 690
Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WELCH 1994: 105
Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — COGGER 2000: 676
Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WILSON & SWAN 2010
Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 640
Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — COGGER 2014: 929 
DistributionAustralia (Western Australia)

Type locality: "Australia." Emended to Southern Australia by Cogger et al., 1983a: 234.  
Reproductionovovivparous (Wilson & Swan 2013; but oviparous according to Cogger 2014) 
TypesHolotype: NMBA 2190, a 395 mm male. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: “A group of small to moderate-sized species lacking contrasting dark head coloring (apart from R. nigrostriatus), with glossy midbody scales in 15 rows, anal and subcaudals entire, eye small with black iris. indistinguishable from pupil. Head, slightly to moderately depressed, no canthus. Distinguished externally from some superficially similar species of Suta by deeper, blunter head, absence of contrasting colour pattern (except black-headed R. nigrostriatus) and/or longer tails (subcaudal counts exceed 40 in most species {not boschmai], versus 40 or fewer in most Suta). Further distinguished from other genera by the unique karyotypes (not present in bicolor), 2n = 36 (20 M, 16 M) or 40.” (Hutchinson 1990: 403) 
CommentVenomous!

Synonymy: Wallach et al. 2014 included the species of Cryptophis in Rhinoplocephalus.

Type species: Rhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER 1885: 690 is the type species of the genus Rhinoplocephalus MÜLLER 1885. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the two colors on the dorsal and ventral side of the species. 
References
  • 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
  • Christensen, P. 1972. New Record of Mueller's Snake, Rhinoplocephalus bicolor. Western Australian Naturalist 12 (4): 88-89 - 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.
  • Hutchinson M N 1990. The generic classification of the Australian terrestrial elapid snakes. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 29 (3): 397-405 - get paper here
  • Keogh, J. Scott; Richard Shine and Steve Donnellan 1998. Phylogenetic Relationships of Terrestrial Australo-Papuan Elapid Snakes (Subfamily Hydrophiinae) Based on Cytochrome b and 16S rRNA Sequences. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 10 (1): 67–81 - get paper here
  • Müller,F. 1885. Vierter Nachtrag zum Katalog der herpetologischen Sammlung des Basler Museums. Verh. naturf. Ges. Basel 7: 668-717 - 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.
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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