Hydrophis annandalei

Species of snake From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hydrophis annandalei, commonly known as Annandale's sea snake or the bighead sea snake, is a species of venomous snake in the subfamily Hydrophiinae of the family Elapidae. The species, which is sometimes placed in its own genus Kolpophis, is native to parts of the Indian Ocean.

Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Suborder:Serpentes
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Hydrophis annandalei
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Hydrophis
Species:
H. annandalei
Binomial name
Hydrophis annandalei
(Laidlaw, 1901)
Synonyms[2]
  • Distira annandalei
    Laidlaw, 1901
  • Kolpophis annandalei
    — M.A. Smith, 1926
  • Lapemis annandalei
    — Rasmussen, 1997
  • Kolpophis annandalei
    — Murphy, Cox & Voris, 1999
  • Hydrophis annandalei
    — Leviton et al., 2014
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Etymology

The specific name, annandalei, is in honor of Scottish herpetologist Nelson Annandale.[3]

Geographic range

H. annandalei is found in the Indian Ocean, in waters off Indonesia (Borneo, Java), western Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Thailand, and southern Vietnam.[1][2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of H. annandalei are shallow muddy coastal waters.[1]

Description

H. annandalei may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 52 cm (20 in). Its coloration, which consists of dark crossbands on a bluish grey ground color dorsally, and which is uniform pale yellow or cream ventrally, is similar to that of other sea snakes. However, K. annandalei can be identified by its high number of dorsal scale rows, 74–93 at midbody.[4]

Reproduction

H. annandalei is viviparous.[2]

References

Further reading

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