Suta spectabilis KREFFT, 1869
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Suta spectabilis
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| Higher Taxa | Elapidae (Hydrophiinae), Colubroidea, Caenophidia, Alethinophidia, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Spectacled Hooded Snake, Bush’s Hooded Snake |
| Synonym | Suta spectabilis spectabilis (KREFFT 1869) Hoplocephalus spectabilis KREFFT 1869: 61 Unechis gouldii — SHINE 1979 (fide COGGER 1983) Unechis spectabilis MENGDEN 1983 Unechis spectabilis — COGGER 1983: 239 Rhinoplocephalus spectabilis STORR 1984 Suta spectabilis HUTCHINSON 1990 Suta spectabilis — COGGER 2000: 692 Parasuta spectabilis — GREER 2006 (online) Parasuta spectabilis — WILSON & SWAN 2010: 492 Parasuta spectabilis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 534 Suta spectabilis — MARYAN et al. 2020: 16 |
| Distribution | Australia (New South Wales, Queensland) bushi: Esperance region, Western Australia. nullarbor: Western Australia (Nullarbor Plain and adjacent coast), South Australia Type locality: Port Lincoln, S. A. ((34°44′S 135°55′E) |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous. |
| Types | Lectotype: AMS R.131135, female, designated by Maryan et al. 2020: 16. Paralectotypes: AMS (AM) R131133-34, R131137, R131139 (formerly 6593-95, 6597, 6599), Port Lincoln, SA, collected G. Masters; BMNH 66.6.13.1, "Flinders Ranges" [in error], presented Krefft. See Shea & Sadlier (1999). Holotype: WAM R66626, from 4 km S of (new) Eucla, 31° 43 S, 128° 52' E, W. A. [nullarbor]. Holotype: WAM R96223, collected by B.G. Bush on 6 October 1986 [bushi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized, moderately robust species of Suta (total length to 405 mm this study, males mean 312 mm, females 285 mm) with: 15 midbody scale rows; 134‒162 ventrals; 22‒34 subcaudals; 140‒ 166 vertebrals; typically divided fourth infralabials; variable body colouration of reddish brown or beige; body scales often with dark pigment of black base or blotch extending back as fine to thick edge on the anterior facets, posterior facets without dark edge; typically reduced black hood on the head extending back on to first 4‒6, mostly 5 vertebrals on the nape, often partially indented, less often completely divided, by a transverse patch or collar at the level of the posterior apices of the parietals; variably sized pale markings in front of the eyes, often across the snout; typically with extensive pale indents behind the eyes, often extending above the upper primary temporals (Maryan et al. 2020: 16). |
| Comment | Subspecies: Suta spectabilis dwyeri has been raised to species status. S. s. bushi may be extinct already (based on B. Bush’s web site). Synonymy: Maryan et al. 2020 synonymized Parasuta spectabilis bushi (STORR 1988) and Parasuta spectabilis nullarbor (STORR 1981) with Suta gouldii (and removed the two subspecies from Parasuta spectabilis (KREFFT 1869). Venomous! Distribution: see map in Maryan et al. 2020: 14 (Fig. 5). Habitat. Suta spectabilis occupies a variety of temperate to semiarid vegetation associations growing on light to heavy, often stony soils, including coastal shell grit beaches, dry sclerophyll forest of mallee and/or other Eucalyptus woodlands, heathlands, shrublands including chenopod, often with Triodia- Brown dominated understorey, and rocky ranges, slopes and foothills (Wilson & Knowles 1988; Ehmann 1992; Swan & Watharow 2005; Cogger 2014; Wilson & Swan 2017; Robertson & Coventry 2019). The habitat north of Coober Pedy where S. spectabilis is known from consists of an undulating stony plain with sparse Acacia von Martius shrubland over open grassland (J. Farquhar, pers. comm.). In these vegetation associations, specimens of S. spectabilis particularly during cooler weather can be raked from deep leaf litter beneath low trees and shrubs and piles of dead vegetation, found under logs, rocks and rubbish, especially pieces of old iron in disturbed agricultural areas adjacent to uncleared vegetation, and in earth cracks and abandoned burrows of insects and lizards. Additionally, when seasonal activity is optimum, S. spectabilis can be funnel or pit-trapped in buckets and nocturnally observed while driving or head-torching on roads, tracks and open ground (Maryan et al. 2020) |
| Etymology | Presumably named after the Latin spectabilis (showy) in relation to the bright coloration. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) |
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