Hydrophis ornatus

Taxobox | name = Ornate Reef seasnake
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Elapidae
genus = "Hydrophis"
species = "H. ornatus"
binomial = "Hydrophis ornatus"
binomial_authority = (Gray, 1842)

Ornate Reef seasnake "Hydrophis ornatus" is a species of sea snake.ITIS|ID=700227|taxon="Hydrophis"|year=2007|date=7 September]

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. [Rooij, Nelly de. 1915. The reptiles of the Indo-Australian archipelago. Volume 2. Leiden.] �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.

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]

References

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

External links

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