Hydrophis Explained

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.

Systematics and classification

There are more than 30 recognized species in the genus.

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^[1]	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^[2]	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	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^[3] ^[4]
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^[5]
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

^[6]

• ) 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

Further reading

• Book: Zug, George R..

  de:George Robert Zug

  . Vitt, Laurie J.. Caldwell, Janalee P.. Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. Second. Academic Press. May 2001. 0-12-782622-X. 630.
• Web site: Uetz. Peter. Family Elapidae (cobras, coral snakes, and seasnakes etc.). The Reptile Database. 2007-09-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20081011004551/http://www.jcvi.org/reptiles/families/elapidae.php. 2008-10-11. dead.

Notes and References

1. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Hydrophis coggeri, p. 56; H. laboutei, p. 149).
2. Web site: Spiny, Venomous New Sea Snake Discovered—"Something Special" . https://web.archive.org/web/20120304150559/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120302-new-sea-snake-species-animals-science-australia/ . dead . March 4, 2012 . March 6, 2012.
3. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hydrophis schistosus. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 15 February 2009. Rasmussen. A..
4. Web site: Hydrophis schistosus.
5. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Hydrophis viperinus. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 15 February 2009. Rasmussen. A..
6. Web site: The Reptiles of Australia, Marine snakes . 2010-02-19 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100616160645/http://www.kingsnake.com/oz/snakes/marine/marine.htm . 2010-06-16 . (downloaded Feb. 18,2010.)