Hydrophis

Hydrophis is a genus of sea snakes, venomous snakes in the subfamily Hydrophiinae of the family Elapidae. Species in the genus Hydrophis are typically found in Indo-Australian and Southeast Asian waters. Currently, around 36 species are recognized as being valid.^[1]

Hydrophis
Annulated sea snake, H. cyanocinctus
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Subfamily:	Hydrophiinae
Genus:	Hydrophis Latreille In Sonnini & Latreille, 1801
Type species
Hydrophis platurus Linnaeus, 1766
Species
See text
Synonyms
Disteira Lacépède, 1804

Systematics and classification

There are more than 30 recognized species in the genus.^[1]

Species	Authority	Subsp.*	Common name	Geographic range
H. annandalei	(Laidlaw, 1901)	0	bighead sea snake, Annandale's sea snake	Indian Ocean
H. anomalus	Schmidt, 1852	0	anomalous sea snake	South Chinese Sea, Indian Ocean
H. atriceps	Günther, 1864	0	black-headed sea snake
H. belcheri	(Gray, 1849)	0	Belcher's sea snake	Queensland and New Territories, Australia
H. bituberculatus	W. Peters, 1873	0	Peters' sea snake	Indian Ocean (Sri Lanka, Thailand)
H. brookii	Günther, 1872	0	Brooke's sea snake
H. caerulescens	(Shaw, 1802)	2	dwarf sea snake	Queensland, Australia
H. cantoris	Günther, 1864	0	Cantor's narrow-headed sea snake, Cantor's small-headed sea snake
H. coggeri	(Kharin, 1984)	0	slender-necked sea snake, Cogger's sea snake[2]	Western Australia
H. curtus	(Shaw, 1802)	0	Shaw's sea snake, short sea snake, Hardwicke's sea snake, spine-bellied sea snake
H. cyanocinctus	Daudin, 1803	0	annulated sea snake, blue-banded sea snake
H. czeblukovi	(Kharin, 1984)	0	fine-spined sea snake
H. donaldi[3]	Ukuwela, K. Sanders & B. Fry, 2012		rough-scaled sea snake	Northern Australia
H. elegans	(Gray, 1842)	0	elegant sea snake
H. fasciatus	(Schneider, 1799)	0	striped sea snake
H. hardwickii	(Gray, 1834)	0	Hardwicke's spine-bellied sea snake
H. inornatus	(Gray, 1849)	0	plain sea snake	Western Australia
H. jerdonii	(Gray, 1849)	2	Jerdon's sea snake	Indian Ocean
H. kingii	Boulenger, 1896	0	King's sea snake
H. klossi	Boulenger, 1912	0	Kloss' sea snake
H. laboutei	A. Rasmussen & Ineich, 2000	0	Laboute's sea snake[2]	New Caledonia
H. lamberti	M.A. Smith, 1917	0	Lambert's sea snake
H. lapemoides	(Gray, 1849)	0	Persian Gulf sea snake
H. macdowelli	Kharin, 1983	0	small-headed sea snake, McDowell's sea snake	Western Australia
H. major	(Shaw, 1802)	0	greater sea snake, olive-headed sea snake
H. mamillaris	(Daudin, 1803)	0	Bombay sea snake
H. melanocephalus	Gray, 1849	0	slender-necked sea snake
H. melanosoma	Günther, 1864	0	black-banded robust sea snake
H. nigrocinctus	Daudin, 1803	0	black-banded sea snake
H. obscurus	Daudin, 1803	0	estuarine sea snake, Russel's sea snake
H. ocellatus	(Gray, 1849)	0	spotted sea snake
H. ornatus	(Gray, 1842)	4	ornate reef sea snake
H. pacificus	Boulenger, 1896	0	large-headed sea snake
H. parviceps	M.A. Smith, 1935	0	Smith's small-headed sea snake
H. peronii	(A.M.C. Duméril, 1853)	0	Peron's sea snake
H. platurus	Linnaeus, 1766	0	yellow-bellied sea snake
H. schistosus	Daudin, 1803	0	beaked sea snake	Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf to Pacific Ocean[4][5]
H. semperi	Garman, 1881	0	Lake Taal snake, Garman's sea snake, Philippine freshwater sea snake, Luzon sea snake
H. sibauensis	A. Rasmussen, Auliya & W. Böhme, 2001	0	Kalimantan sea snake
H. spiralis	(Shaw, 1802)	0	yellow sea snake
H. stokesii	(Gray, 1846)	0	Stokes' sea snake, Stokes's sea snake
H. stricticollis	Günther, 1864	0	collared sea snake
H. torquatus	Günther, 1864	2	west coast black-headed sea snake
H. viperinus	Schmidt, 1852	0	viperine sea snake	Persian Gulf and Western Indian Ocean to Western Pacific Ocean[6]
H. vorisi	Kharin, 1984	0	estuarine sea snake	Torres Strait, Queensland
H. zweifeli	(Kharin, 1985)	0	Sepik beaked sea snake, Zweifel’s beaked sea snake

^[7] *) Not including the nominate subspecies (typical form).

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Hydrophis.

See also

• Sea snake
• Snakebite

References

1. "Hydrophis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 7 September 2007.
2. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Hydrophis coggeri, p. 56; H. laboutei, p. 149).
3. "Spiny, Venomous New Sea Snake Discovered—"Something Special"". Archived from the original on March 4, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
4. Rasmussen, A. (15 February 2009). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hydrophis schistosus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
5. "Hydrophis schistosus".
6. Rasmussen, A. (15 February 2009). "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hydrophis viperinus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
7. "The Reptiles of Australia, Marine snakes". Archived from the original on 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-02-19. (downloaded Feb. 18,2010.)

Further reading

• Zug, George R. [in German]; Vitt, Laurie J.; Caldwell, Janalee P. (May 2001). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (Second ed.). Academic Press. p. 630. ISBN 0-12-782622-X.
• Uetz, Peter. "Family Elapidae (cobras, coral snakes, and seasnakes etc.)". The Reptile Database. Archived from the original on 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2007-09-07.

External links

• Hydrophis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 7 September 2007.