Lapemis hardwickii

Taxobox | name = Hardwicke's spine-bellied seasnake
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
subordo = Serpentes
familia = Hydrophiidae
genus = "Lapemis"
species = "L. hardwickii"
binomial = "Lapemis hardwickii"
binomial_authority = Gray, 1834

"Lapemis hardwickii", or Hardwicke's spine-bellied seasnake, is a species of sea snake.

Diagnostic Characters

*Body short, stout, neck region not less than half as thick at midbody;
*head large; scales squarish or hexagonal, juxtaposed, outer 3-4 rows larger than others, scale rows: males 23-31 around neck, females 27-35, around midbody, males 25-27, females 33-41;
*ventrals small, usually distinct anteriorly, not so posteriorly, in males 114-186, in females 141-230; head shields entire, parietals occasionally divided;
*nostrils superior, nasals in contact with one another;
*prefrontal usually in contact with second upper labial;
*7-8 upper labials, 3-4 bordering eye; 1 pre- and 1-2 postoculars; 2, rarely 3, anterior temporals; greenish or yellow- olive above, whitish below, 35-50 olive to dark gray dorsal bars, tapering to a point laterally, occasionally encircling body, a narrow dark ventral stripe or broad irregular band occasionally present;
*adults often lack any pattern and are uniform olive to dark gray;
*head pale olive to black, yellow markings on snout present or not. Total length 860 mm (2' 4"), tail length 85 mm (3.3").

Distribution

*Persian Gulf (United Arab Emirates, Iran)
*Indian Ocean (Pakistan ?, Sri Lanka, India)
*South China Sea north to the coasts of Fujian and Shandong
*Strait of Taiwan
*Indoaustralian Archipelago
*North coast of Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)
*the Philippines (Panay etc.)
*Pacific Ocean (Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, Papua New Guinea)

"hardwickii": Burma, southeast coast of India and the Straits of Malacca, east to Australia and north to China, Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan. [ Leviton et al. 2003 ]

Notes

References

* Gray. J. E.; 1835 "Illustrations of Indian Zoology, chiefly selected from the collection of Major - General Hardwicke." Vol. 2. London (1833-1834): 263 pp., 95 plates
* Gray, J. E.; 1843 "Description of two new species of reptiles from the collection made during the voyages of H.M.S. Sulphur." "Ann. Mag. nat. Hist." (1) 11: 46
* Gritis, P. & VORIS H. K.; 1990 "Variability and significance of parietal and ventral scales in the marine snakes of the genus Lapemis (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae), with comments on the occurrence of spiny scales in the genus." "Fieldiana Zool. n.s." (56): i-iii + 1-13.