Hydrophis curtus

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Infraordo: Caenophidia
Superfamilia: Elapoidea

Familia: Elapidae
Subfamilia: Hydrophiinae
Genus: Hydrophis
Species: Hydrophis curtus
Name

Hydrophis curtus (Shaw, 1802)
References

Peng C, Ren JL, Deng C, Jiang D, Wang J, Qu J, Chang J, Yan C, Jiang K, Murphy RW, Wu DD, Li JT. The Genome of Shaw's Sea Snake (Hydrophis curtus) Reveals Secondary Adaptation to Its Marine Environment. Mol Biol Evol. 2020 Jun 1;37(6):1744–1760. DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa043. PMID 32077944.
Mark O’Shea: Giftschlangen – Alle Arten der Welt in ihren Lebensräumen. Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10619-5, S. 146.
Guido Westhoff, Bryan G. Fry, Horst Bleckmann, Sea snakes (Lapemis curtus) are sensitive to low-amplitude water motions, Zoology, Volume 108, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 195–200, ISSN 0944-2006, DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2005.07.001

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2022. Hydrophis curtus. The Reptile Database. Accessed on 2 June 2021.
Lukoschek, V., Guinea, M., Cogger, H., Rasmussen, A., Murphy, J., Lane, A., Sanders, K. Lobo, A., Gatus, J., Limpus, C., Milton, D., Courtney, T., Read, M., Fletcher, E., Marsh, D., White, M.-D., Heatwole, H., Alcala, A., Voris, H. & Karns, D. 2018. IUCN: Hydrophis curtus (Least Concern) (amended version of 2010 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T176746A136263050. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T176746A136263050.en

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Kurzschwanz-Seeschlange
English: Spine-bellied Sea Snake
日本語: トゲウミヘビ
中文: 平颏海蛇

Hydrophis curtus, also known as Shaw's Sea Snake, short sea snake, but often includes Hydrophis hardwickii[2] is a species of sea snake. Like all Hydrophiinae sea snakes, it is a viviparous, fully marine, and front fanged elapid that is highly venomous.[3] It is collected for a variety of purposes including human and animal food, for medicinal purposes and for their skin.[4]

Description

This species is characterized by a wide variation in number of ventral scales and degree of parietal scale fragmentation.[2] Both sexes possess spiny scales along their bodies but males have more highly developed spines. This sexual dimorphism in spines may play a role in courtship or in locomotion by reducing drag.[2]
Distribution

It is a widely distributed species and like most sea snakes is restricted to warmer, tropical waters. Its range includes:

Persian Gulf (Oman, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Iran)
Indian Ocean (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India)
South China Sea (north to the coasts of Fujian and Shandong)
Strait of Taiwan
Indo-Australian Archipelago
North Coast of Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia)
Philippines (Panay)
Pacific Ocean (Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan, New Guinea)
Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Cambodia and Singapore [1]

Taxonomy

Originally considered to be two species of the genus Hydrophis: Hydrophis curtus and Hydrophis hardwickii. Gritis and Voris (1990) examined the morphological variation of over 1,400 specimens across its geographic range and concluded it is most likely a single species.[2][4] As is convention, the species name reverts to the first description by Shaw in 1802. DNA and morphological analysis restored its phylogenic status as a single species.[5] An analysis of the population in 2014 found strong evidence of deep divergence and genetic isolation across the geographical range, supporting a division of the species to Indian Ocean and West Pacific groups and high likelihood of cryptic taxa within those groups.[6]
Hydrodynamic sense

They have corpuscles (scale sensillae) concentrated on the front of their head which may be a hydrodynamic receptor.[7] A study measuring brain response to water vibration found that L. curtus is sensitive to low amplitude (100–150 Hz) water motions.[8] Sensing water motion is useful in locating prey, predators, or potential mates and has been demonstrated in other aquatic animals (e.g. lateral line in fish, whiskers in harbour seals).[9]
References

Notes

Rasmussen, A.R.; Crowe-Riddell, J.M.; Courtney, T.; Sanders, K. (2021). "Hydrophis curtus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T176746A132780885. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T176746A132780885.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
Gritis, P. & H. K. Voris 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.
Heatwole H. 1999. Sea Snakes. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney.
Lukoschek, V., Guinea, M., Cogger, H., Rasmussen, A., Murphy, J., Lane, A., Sanders, K. Lobo, A., Gatus, J., Limpus, C., Milton, D., Courtney, T., Read, M., Fletcher, E., Marsh, D., White, M.-D., Heatwole, H., Alcala, A., Voris, H. & Karns, D. 2010. Lapemis curtus. In: IUCN 2014. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 26 June 2014
Sanders, K. L., Mumpuni, Lee M. S. Y. 2010 Uncoupling ecological innovation and speciation in sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae, Hydrophiini. J. Evol. Biol. 23 (12):2685-93
Ukuwela, Kanishka D. B.; de Silva, Anslem; Mumpuni; Fry, Bryan G.; Sanders, Kate L. (September 2014). "Multilocus phylogeography of the sea snake reveals historical vicariance and cryptic lineage diversity". Zoologica Scripta. 43 (5): 472–484. doi:10.1111/zsc.12070. S2CID 52838839.
Povel, D. , Kooij, J.v.d. 1997. Scale sensillae of the file snake (Serpentes: Acrochordidae) and some other aquatic and burrowing snakes. Neth. J. Zool., 47, 443–456
Westhoff G, Fry BG, Bleckmann H. 2005. Sea snakes (Lapemis curtus) are sensitive to low-amplitude water motions. Zoology 108, 195-200.

Dehnhardt G, Mauck B, Bleckmann H (1998) Seal whiskers detect water movements. Nature 394, 235-236.

Sources

Anderson, J. 1871 A list of the reptilian accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, Calcutta, 40, part 11(1): 12–39.
Rasmussen, A. R. & I. Ineich 2000 Sea snakes of New Caledonia and surrounding waters (Serpentes: Elapidae): first report on the occurrence of Lapemis curtus and description of new species from the genus Hydrophis. Hamadryad, 25(2): 91–99.