Rhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER, 1885
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Rhinoplocephalus bicolor
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Square-nosed Snake, Muller's Snake |
| Synonym | Rhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER 1885: 690 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — BOULENGER 1896: 353 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WELCH 1994: 105 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — COGGER 2000: 676 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — WALLACH et al. 2014: 640 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — COGGER 2014: 929 Rhinoplocephalus bicolor — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 203 |
| Distribution | Australia (Western Australia) Type locality: "Australia." Emended to Southern Australia by Cogger et al., 1983a: 234. |
| Reproduction | ovoviviparous (Wilson & Swan 2013; but oviparous according to Cogger 2014) |
| Types | Holotype: NMBA 2190, a 395 mm male. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: “A group of small to moderate-sized species lacking contrasting dark head coloring (apart from R. nigrostriatus), with glossy midbody scales in 15 rows, anal and subcaudals entire, eye small with black iris. indistinguishable from pupil. Head, slightly to moderately depressed, no canthus. Distinguished externally from some superficially similar species of Suta by deeper, blunter head, absence of contrasting colour pattern (except black-headed R. nigrostriatus) and/or longer tails (subcaudal counts exceed 40 in most species {not boschmai], versus 40 or fewer in most Suta). Further distinguished from other genera by the unique karyotypes (not present in bicolor), 2n = 36 (20 M, 16 M) or 40.” (Hutchinson 1990: 403) Additional details (1037 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Venomous! Synonymy: Wallach et al. 2014 included the species of Cryptophis in Rhinoplocephalus. Type species: Rhinoplocephalus bicolor MÜLLER 1885: 690 is the type species of the genus Rhinoplocephalus MÜLLER 1885. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | Named after Latin bicolor, of two colors, presumably named after the two colors on the dorsal and ventral side of the species. The genus Rhinoplocephalus was named after the Greek rhinos (nose) plus the generic base name Hoplocephalus, itself based on the original vernacular name Oplocephales created by Cuvier. "Die vorgeschlagene Bezeichnung der eventuell neuen Gattung ist nach Analogie der Namen Rhinelaps etc. gebildet." (Müller, 1885: The proposed name of the possibly new genus is based on the analogy of the names Rhinelaps etc.). Müller emphasises the peculiar characteristic of the species of lacking internasals, replaced by an extension of the rostral scale that reaches back to the frontonasals. |
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