Narophis bimaculatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)
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Narophis bimaculatus
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Elapoidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Black-naped Burrowing Snake, Western Black-naped Snake |
| Synonym | Furina bimaculata DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 1240 Furina bimaculata — FRY 1914: 197 Vermicella bimaculata — GLAUERT 1950 Narophis bimaculatus — WORRELL 1961: 27 Simoselaps bimaculata — UNDERWOOD 1979 Neelaps bimaculatus — COGGER 1983: 228 Simoselaps bimaculata — HUTCHINSON 1990 Simoselaps bimaculatus — COGGER 1992 Simoselaps bimaculata — WELCH 1994: 107 Simoselaps bimaculatus — COGGER 2000: 684 Neelaps bimaculatus — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 486 Simoselaps bimaculatus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 662 Neelaps bimaculatus — COGGER 2014: 903 Neelaps bimaculatus — EIPPER & EIPPER 2019 Neelaps bimaculatus — SHEA 2021 Narophis bimaculatus — MARYAN et al. 2023 Narophis bimaculatus — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 158 |
| Distribution | Australia (South Australia, Western Australia) Type locality: original type locality in error (see comment). Corrected to Perth, fide Storr (1968: 85). Restricted to W Australia fide Boulenger (1896a: 407). |
| Reproduction | oviparous. |
| Types | Holotype: MNHN-RA 3942, from Tasmania; data with holotype cites "Australia" as locality |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus Narophis). A monotypic genus comprising N. bimaculatus, a small, very slender fossorial hydrophiine elapid snake (total length to 468 mm this study, males mean 335 mm, females 354 mm, tail length 6.0‒12.1% of SVL mean 8.6%) with: head narrow, depressed and not distinct from neck; protrusive round-shaped snout without cutting edge; no canthus rostralis; frontal not much wider than long; internasals present slightly small-er than prefrontals, suture between internasal and prefrontal slightly to moderately oblique; preocular in contact with nasal, rarely separated by prefrontal; typically upper primary and secondary temporals fused to form a single elongate scale without deep ventral descent (Fig. 3A), occasionally 1 + 1; rostral as slightly wider than high, posteriorly acute and projecting deeply between internasals; a consistent colour pattern of dark transverse band extends across nape and dark broad band across head forward to level of eyes; tip of snout occasionally dark; variable body colour of shades of reddish, yellowish, orange brown or bright red often with darker margins on posterior facets and pale base forming reticulated pattern; 178‒234 ventrals; 184‒242 vertebrals; midbody scales very glossy and smooth, in 15 rows occasionally increasing to 16 posterior to the head and decreasing to 14 (rarely 13) anterior to the vent; anal and 18‒33 subcaudals divided; supralabials five, last very large possibly through fusion of lower primary temporal with fifth and sixth supralabials; infralabials seven; ventral surface white with glossy shine; eyes are small with pupils indiscernible within black irises (Bush 2017). Other features in the genus are the reversion to the primitive karyotype of 2N = 36 (16M and 20m) (Mengden 1985), and pterygoid tooth row reduced posteriorly such that it does not extend beyond the level of the ectopterygoid-pterygoid articulation (Greer 1997). Most similar to the monotypic genus Neelaps in general aspects of morphology and scalation (including cranial, dentition, and hemipenial morphology, Scanlon 1985; Keogh 1999) differs in: Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data. However, these details, e.g. detailed descriptions (about between half a page and a page) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us if you need any of this material. |
| Comment | Venomous! Habitat: burrowing Distribution: original type locality: "Tasmanie" [= Tasmania, in error fide Storr, 1968: 85). See map in Maryan et al. 2023: 13 (Fig. 6). Type species: Furina bimaculata DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL 1854: 1240 is the type species of the genus Narophis WORRELL 1961. |
| Etymology | The species is probably named after the 2 black blotches on the head of this species, after Latin macula = spot. The genus name was not explained by Worrell (1961: 27), but it is presumably from Latin naris meaning the nostrils, or more broadly a snout described in diagnosis by Worrell as “elongate with a large posteriorly acute rostral”, and from Greek ophis meaning snake. Since ophis is a masculine noun the spelling of bimaculatus does not change. |
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