Pseudoferania polylepis (FISCHER, 1886)

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Higher Taxa	Homalopsidae, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Macleays Mud Snake, Smooth watersnake
Synonym	Hypsirhina polylepis FISCHER 1886: 62 Pseudoferania macleayi OGILBY 1890 Hypsirhina macleayi — BOULENGER 1896 Enhydris polylepis — BOULENGER 1896 Hypsirhina polylepis — LIDTH DE JEUDE 1911: 278 Pseudoferania polylepis — GYI 1970 Enhydris polylepis — COGGER 1983: 212 Pseudoferania polylepis — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 Pseudoferania harritosi WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 1 Enhydris polylepsis — MEHRTENS 1987: 221 Enhydris polylepis — O’SHEA 1996 Enhydris polylepis — COGGER 2000: 623 Enhydris polylepis — MURPHY 2007: 155 Enhydris polylepis — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 448 Pseudoferania polylepis — MURPHY 2011 Pseudoferrania polylepis — MURPHY 2011 (in error) Pseudoferania macleayi — WALLACH et al. 2014 Pseudoferania polylepis — MURPHY & VORIS 2014: 32 Enhydris polylepis — SHINE et al. 2019 Pseudoferania polylepis — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 291
Distribution	Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (Irian Jaya) [J. Pilgrim, pers. comm.], Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland) Type locality: “Fly River, Süd-Neuguinea” [= Fly River, Western Prov., SW Papua New Guinea].
Reproduction	ovoviviparous
Types	Holotype: MTD (= MTKD) D437, from Fly River, Papua New Guinea, (destroyed), fide Obst (1977). Holotype: AM R460, from Ripple Creek, Herbert River, Qld. [Pseudoferania macleayi].
Diagnosis	Diagnosis (genus): Moderate-sized snake, reaching 0.8 m, 21–27 rows (usually 23) of dorsal scales at mid-body; nasal in contact, most dorsal scales smooth, but posterior body has keeled scales (MURPHY & VORIS 2014: 32). 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	Synonymy after COGGER 1983. MURPHY & VORIS 2014 speculate that the species may be a species complex. WALLACH et al. 2014 treated Pseudoferania macleayi as valid. Type species: Hypsirhina polylepis FISCHER 1886 is the type species of the genus Pseudoferania OGILBY 1890. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.
Etymology	Presumably named after the Greek polys (many) plus lepis (scale) in reference to the number of midbody scales. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) The genus was named after its similarity to the genus Ferania, from Greek pseudo (ψευδο) = false, untrue, mistaken.
References	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. Eipper T & Eipper S 2024. SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 368 pp. - get paper here Fischer, J. G. 1886. Herpetologische Notizen. Abh. Geb. Naturw. Hamb. 9: 51-67 (1-19) - get paper here Griffiths, K. 1981. Macleay's water snake Enhydris polylepis. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 12: 31-32 Gyi, Ko Ko 1970. A revision of colubrid snakes of the sub-family Homalopsinae. Univ. Kans. Publs. Mus. Nat. Hist 20 (2): 44-223 - get paper here Jolly, C., Schembri, B., & Macdonald, S. 2023. Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne - get paper here Lidth DE JEUDE, T.W. VAN 1911. Reptilien (Schlangen). Nova Guinea. Résultats de l’expedition scientifique néerlandaise à la Nouvelle Guinée en 1907 sous les auspices de Dr. H.A. Lorenz 9. Leiden (E. J. Brill), pp. 265-287 Mehrtens, J.M. 1987. Living snakes of the world in color. Sterling Publ. Co., hic., New York, NY: 480 pp. Murphy, J.C. 2011. THE NOMENCLATURE AND SYSTEMATICS OF SOME AUSTRALASIAN HOMALOPSID SNAKES (SQUAMATA: SERPENTES: HOMALOPSIDAE). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 2011 59(2): 229–236 - get paper here Murphy, J.C. & Voris, H.K. 2014. A Checklist and Key to the Homalopsid Snakes (Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes), with the Description of New Genera. FIELDIANA: LIFE AND EARTH SCIENCES (8): 1–43 - get paper here Murphy, John C. 2007. Homalopsid Snakes: Evolution in the Mud. Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida, 249 pp. Obst, F. J. 1977. Die herpetologische Sammlung des Staatlichen Museums für Tierkunde Dresden und ihre Typusexemplare. Zool. Abh. Mus. Tierk. Dresden 34: 171-186. Ogilby, J. D. 1890. Description of a new snake from the Herbert River District. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales (2) 5: 51-52 - get paper here O’Shea, M. 2018. The Book of Snakes. Ivy Press / Quarto Publishing, London, - get paper here O’Shea,M. 1996. A Guide to the Snakes of Papua New Guinea. Independent Publishing, Port Moresby, xii + 239 pp. - 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 Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney Thomson, D. F. 1935. Preliminary notes on a collection of snakes from Cape York Peninsula. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1935: 723-731 - get paper here Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - 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.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/homalopsidae.pdf Google images

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