Cryptophis pallidiceps (GÜNTHER, 1858)

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Higher Taxa	Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Western Carpentaria Snake, Northern Small-eyed Snake
Synonym	Hoplocephalus pallidiceps GÜNTHER 1858: 214 Denisonia pallidiceps — BOULENGER 1896 Denisonia nigrescens BOULENGER 1896 Cryptophis pallidiceps — WORRELL 1961: 26 Cryptophis pallidiceps — COGGER 1983: 220 Rhinoplocephalus pallidiceps — HUTCHINSON 1990 Rhinoplocephalus pallidiceps — COGGER 2000: 679 Cryptophis pallidiceps — GREER 2006 (online) Cryptophis pallidiceps — SOMAWEERA 2009 Cryptophis pallidiceps — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 466 Rhinoplocephalus pallidiceps — WALLACH et al. 2014: 641 Cryptophis pallidiceps — COGGER 2014: 876 Cryptophis pallidiceps — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 114
Distribution	Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia) Type locality: "Port Essington" [= Port Essington, ext. N Northern Territory, N Australia, 11°10'S, 132°08'E, elevation 0 m] via lectotype selection.
Reproduction	ovoviviparous
Types	Lectotype: BMNH 1946.1.20.65; Syntypes: BMNH 1946.1.18.88 (NE Australia); BMNH 1946.1.20.64-65 (Port Essington), from Port Essington, N. T. and NE Australia (the latter is erroneous); original BMNH records show that the correct locality is NW Australia. Designation by Wells & Wellington (1995).
Diagnosis	Diagnosis (genus): Maxillary about as far forward as palatine with a pair of en- larged venom fangs followed by five to seven smaller teeth; post-frontals in contact with prefrontals which are sutured more or less to the lateral margin of frontals. Pupil round; canthus rostralis absent; nasal scale in contact with preocular; midbody scales in 15 to 17 rows; anal and subcaudals single. (Worrell 1961) Additional details (945 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Venomous! Type species: Hoplocephalus pallidiceps GÜNTHER 1858: 214 is the type species of the genus Cryptophis WORRELL 1961: 26. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.
Etymology	Named after Latin “pallidus” = pale or yellow(ish) and “-ceps”, short suffix for “caput” = head. The genus Cryptophis was presumably named after the Greek kryptos (hidden) plus ophis (snake). Possibly a reference to the secretive nocturnal nature of the species, or that the generic allocation of the species had remained hidden by previous allocation to Hoplocephalus. Derivation not stated by Worrell (1961).
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 Günther, A. 1858. Catalogue of Colubrine snakes of the British Museum. London, I - XVI, 1 - 281 - 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 Parkin, T., Jolly, C. J., de Laive, A., & von Takach, B. 2020. Snakes on an urban plain: Temporal patterns of snake activity and human–snake conflict in Darwin, Australia. Austral Ecology - get paper here Smith, L. A. 1978. The elapid snakes Denisonia pallidiceps and Denisonia suta in the Kimberleys of Western Australia. Western Australian Naturalist 14: 75-76 - get paper here Somaweera, R. 2009. Snakes of Darwin. Poster, University of Sydney 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. Worrell, E. 1961. Herpetological Name Changes. Western Australian Naturalist 8: 18—27. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/elapidae.pdf http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Elapidae/Cryptophis… Google images

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