Narophis bimaculatus (DUMÉRIL, BIBRON & DUMÉRIL, 1854)
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Narophis bimaculatus
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, 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 to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 9167 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| 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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