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Laticauda frontalis (DE VIS, 1905)

IUCN Red List - Laticauda frontalis - Near Threatened, NT

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Higher TaxaElapidae (Laticaudinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymPlaturus frontalis DE VIS 1905: 48
Laticauda frontalis — COGGER 1987
Laticauda frontalis — COGGER & HEATWOLE 2006
Laticauda frontalis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 364 
DistributionIndian Ocean, restricted to Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia

Type locality: New Guinea  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: QM J202 (Queensland Museum) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. A banded sea krait of the genus Laticauda characterized by the possession of a yellow upper lip. an undivided rostral scale, an almost invariate 21 mid-body scale rows in both sexes, fewer than 209 (males) and 212 (females) ventral scales, and a maximum snout -vent length (SVL) of 654 mm (males) and 783 mm (females). It can be distinguished from L. laticaudata and L. crockeri by its yellow upper lip (black in laticaudata and crockeri) and from L. semifasciata and L. schistorhyncha by its undivided rostral. From L. colubrina it may be distinguished by the following combination of characters: a lower modal mid-body scale row count of 21. lower ventral scale counts in both sexes (Table 1. Fig. 9), smaller size (Table 1) and. throughout the known area of sympatry, by the absence of a lower lateral connection between the black head band and the first black band on the neck (Fig. 2), and the failure of the dark body bands, at least anteriorly, to extend to the middle of the venter (Fig. 1). (Cogger & Heatwole 2006)


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CommentSympatry: Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905) is a dwarf species found in sympatry and syntopy with Laticauda colubrina in Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia. SHINE et al. (2002) show that L. colubrina and L. frontalis are sibling species that are reproductively isolated.

Similar species: L. colubrina.

Habitat: marine.

Venomous!

Distribution: See maps in Gherghel et al. 2016, Heatwole et al. 2017. 
References
  • Cogger, Harold G. & Heatwole, Harold F. 2006. Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905) and Laticauda saintgironsi n. sp. from Vanuatu and New Caledonia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Laticaudinae) - a new lineage of sea kraits? Rec. Austral. Mus. 58 (2): 245-256 - get paper here
  • de Vis, Charles Walter de 1905. A new genus of lizard. On Typhlops torresianus. Ann. Queensland Museum (Brisbane) 6: 48 - get paper here
  • Gherghel I, Papeş M, Brischoux F, Sahlean T, Strugariu A 2016. A revision of the distribution of sea kraits (Reptilia, Laticauda) with an updated occurrence dataset for ecological and conservation research. ZooKeys 569: 135-148, doi: 10.3897/zookeys.569.6975 - get paper here
  • Heatwole, Harold; Alana Grech, and Helene Marsh 2017. Paleoclimatology, Paleogeography, and the Evolution and Distribution of Sea Kraits (Serpentes; Elapidae; Laticauda). Herpetological Monographs 31 (1): 1-17. - get paper here
  • Ineich, I. 2011. Amphibians and reptiles. In: Bouchet P., Le Guyader H. & PascaL O. (eds), The Natural History of Santo. pp. 187-236. MNhN, Paris; Ird, Marseille; PNI, Paris. 572 pp. (Patrimoines naturels; 70). - get paper here
  • Kharin, Vladimir E.; Jakob Hallermann 2009. Annotated catalogue of sea kraits (Laticaudidae) and sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) of the herpetological collection of the Zoological Museum, University of Hamburg. Mitt. hamb. zool. Mus. Inst. 106: 51-67
  • Kharin, Vladimir E.; Mark-Oliver Rödel, and Jakob Hallermann 2010. New Records and Distribution of a Little-Known Sea Krait Laticauda frontalis (Devis, 1905) (Serpentes, Laticaudidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 17 (4): 285-289 - get paper here
  • Lane, Amanda; Richard Shine 2011. Phylogenetic relationships within laticaudine sea snakes (Elapidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59 (3): 567-577 - 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.
  • ZUG, G.R. 2013. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands. University of California Press, Berkeley, 306 pp. - get paper here
 
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