Laticauda colubrina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Colubrine or yellow-lipped sea krait | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) |
The Colubrine sea krait or yellow-lipped sea krait Laticauda colubrina is a species of sea snake found in tropical oceanic waters.
Contents |
[edit] Description
- See snake scales for terms used
Ventrals large, one-third to more than half the width of the body; nostrils lateral; nasals separated by internasals; 21-25 longitudinal rows of imbricate scales at midbody; an azygous prefrontal shield usually present; rostral undivided;
Body subcylindrical, only slightly compressed. Rostral higher than broad; an azygous shield separating the prefrontals, sometimes absent; frontal considerably longer than its distance from the end of the snout; 1 pre- and 2 post oculars ; 7-8 supralabials, the 3rd-4th touching the eye temporals 1+2 ; five infralabials in contact with the genials, both pairs of which are usually well developed and in contact with one another, the anterior pair smaller than the posterior ; a double series of elongated scales, the inner series the larger, at the oral margin. Scales in 21-23 rows (rarely 25). Ventrals 213 to 245, about four times as long as broad. Caudals in males 37-47, females 29-35 (Smith 1943:443).
Total length: males 875 mm, females 1420 mm; tail length: males 130 mm, females 145 mm.
In colour these snakes are light or dark bluish grey above, yellowish below, with black bands more or less of uniform width throughout or narrowing on the belly (some of them interrupted below). Upper lip yellow. Snout yellow, the colour extending backward on each side of the head on each side of the head above the eye as far as the temporal shields, leaving a dark bar in between. Rest of the head is black. by fegrus janissen hi
[edit] Distribution
Indian Ocean (E India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia [Borneo], Melanesia, Polynesia), Solomon Islands, Gulf of Thailand, Philippines (Luzon etc.), Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Coasts of Taiwan (China), Bay of Bengal, coasts of the Malay Peninsula, Indoaustralian Archipelago to New Guinea, Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Australia (New South Wales, Queensland), New Zealand, Western Pacific Ocean to Fiji, New Caledonia, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua
[edit] References
- Frith,C.B. 1974 Second record of the seasnake Laticauda colubrina in Thailand waters. Nat. Hist. Bull. Siam Soc. (Bangkok) 25: 209
- Ota, Hidetoshi;Takahashi, Hiroshi;Kamezaki, Naoki 1985 On specimens of yellow lipped sea krait Laticauda colubrina from the Yaeyama group, Ryūkyū Archipelago Snake 17: 156-159
- Pernetta, J. C. 1977 Observations on the habits and morphology of the sea snake Laticauda colubrina (Schneider) in Fiji Canadian Journal of Zoology 55: 1612-1619
- Shetty, Sohan;Devi Prasad, K. V. 1996 Geographic variation in the number of bands in Laticauda colubrina Hamadryad 21: 44-45
- Shetty, S. & Shine, R. 2002 The mating system of Yellow-lipped sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina: Laticaudidae). Herpetologica 58 (2): 170-180
- Shetty, S. & Shine, R. 2002 Sexual divergence in diets and morphology in Fijian sea snakes Laticauda colubrina (Laticaudinae). Austral Ecology 27: 77-84
- Voris, Harold K.;Voris, Helen H. 1999 Commuting on the tropical tides: the life of the yellow-lipped sea krait Laticauda colubrina Reptilia (GB) (6): 23-30
