Hydrophis ornatus

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Ornate Reef seasnake
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae[1]
Genus: Hydrophis
Species: H. ornatus
Binomial name
Hydrophis ornatus
(Gray, 1842)

Ornate Reef seasnake Hydrophis ornatus is a species of sea snake.[1]

Contents

[edit] Description

Head moderate; eye as long as or longer than its distance from the mouth; rostral more broad than deep; nasals shorter than the frontal, two or three times as long as the suture between the praefrontals; praefrontals usually in contact with the second labial; frontal more long than broad, as long as or longer than its distance from the rostral or the tip of the snout; one prae- and two or three postoculars; two or three superposed anterior temporals; seven or eight upper labials, third and fourth entering the eye, the posterior often divided, second largest; posterior chin-shields absent or separated by two or three scales. Body moderate; scales imbricate anteriorly, juxtaposed posteriorly, smooth in the young, with a keel or tubercle in the adult, in 40-50 rows (35-42 anteriorly); ventrals 210-300, entire or a few divided posteriorly.[2] � Young specimens banded with black, the bands interrupted ventrally, and with one or more series of round dark spots on the sides. Sometimes the bands confluent, forming a blackish upper part; white below. Length of head and body 1070 mm.; tail 130 mm.

[edit] Distribution

Indian Ocean (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, New Guinea, Malaysia); South Chinese; Sea Coasts of Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shandong (China); Persian Gulf (Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iran,); through Indian Ocean East to seas surrounding Indoaustralian Archipelago;Philippines, Gulf of Thailand; Japan (Okinawa); Australia (New South Wales, North Territory, Tasmania, Queensland, West Australia), New Caledonia/Loyalty Islands, Solomon Islands [McCoy 2000]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Hydrophis (TSN 700227). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 7 September 2007.
  2. ^ Rooij, Nelly de. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Volume 2. Leiden.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Bussarawitt,S.; Rasmussen, A.R. & Andersen, M. 1989 A preliminary study on sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) from Phuket Harbor, Phuket Island, Thailand. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc., Bangkok 37 (2): 209-225
  • Mittleman, M. B. 1947 Geographic variation in the sea snake, Hydrophis ornatus (Gray) Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 60: 1-8
  • Rasmussen,A.R. 1989 An analysis of Hydrophis ornatus (Gray), H. lamberti Smith, and H. inornatus (Gray) (Hydrophiidae, Serpentes) based on samples from various localities, with remarks on feeding and breeding biology of H. ornatus. Amphibia-Reptilia 10: 397-417

[edit] External links


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