Spectacled hooded snake

The spectacled hooded snake (Suta spectabilis), also known commonly as the Port Lincoln snake, is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The species is native to central-southern Australia.[1] There are three recognized subspecies.

Spectacled hooded snake
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Suta
Species:
S. spectabilis
Binomial name
Suta spectabilis
(Krefft, 1869)
Synonyms[2][3]
  • Hoplocephalus spectabilis
    Kreft, 1869
  • Denisonia spectabilis
    — Storr, 1981
  • Unechis spectabilis
    — Cogger, 1983
  • Rhinoplocephalus spectabilis
    — Storr, 1984
  • Suta spectabilis
    — Hutchinson, 1990
  • Parasuta spectabilis
    — Greer, 2006

Geographic range

S. spectabilis is found in the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.[1][2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitats of S. spectabilis are grassland and shrubland.[1]

Description

Adults of S. spectabilis have an average snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 26.5 cm (10.4 in), and the length of the tail is on average 12.5% SVL. The maximum recorded SVL is 35.6 centimetres (14.0 in).[3]

Reproduction

S. spectabilis is viviparous.[2]

Subspecies

Including the nominotypical subspecies, three subspecies are recognized as being valid.[2]

  • Suta spectabilis bushi (Storr, 1988)
  • Suta spectabilis nullarbor (Storr, 1981)
  • Suta spectabilis spectabilis (Krefft, 1869)

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Parasuta.

Etymology

The subspecific name, bushi, is in honor of Australian herpetologist Brian Gordon Bush (born 1947).[4]

References
  1. Ellis R, Shea G, Cogger H (2017). "Parasuta spectabilis ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T102719807A102719969. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T102719807A102719969.en. Downloaded on 23 January 2020
  2. Species Suta spectabilis at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  3. Storr (1981).
  4. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Suta spectabilis bushi, p. 44).

Further reading
  • Cogger HG (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. ISBN 978-0643100350.
  • Krefft G (1869). The Snakes of Australia; an Illustrative and Descriptive Catalogue of All the Known Species. Sydney: Thomas Richards, Government Printer. xxv + 100 pp. + Plates I-XII. (Hoplocephalus spectabilis, new species, p. 61 + Plate XII, figure 4).
  • Storr GM (1981). "The Denisonia gouldii species-group (Serpentes, Elapidae) in Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum 8 (4): 501–515. (Denisonia spectabilis nullarbor, new subspecies, pp. 512–513, Figure 6).
  • Storr GM (1988). "A new Rhinoplocephalus (Serpentes: Elapidae) from Western Australia". Rec. Western Australian Mus. 14 (1): 137–138. (Rhinoplocephalus spectabilis bushi, new subspecies).
  • Wilson, Steve; Swan, Gerry (2013). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Fourth Edition. Sydney: New Holland Publishers. 522 pp. ISBN 978-1921517280.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.