Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842)

Rezaie-Atagholipour, Mohsen, Ghezellou, Parviz, Hesni, Majid Askari, Dakhteh, Seyyed Mohammad Hashem, Ahmadian, Hooman & Vidal, Nicolas, 2016, Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, ZooKeys 622, pp. 129-164 : 144-146

Taxon classification Animalia Squamata Elapidae

Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842) Figures 3d, 3e, 4c, 16, 17

Aturia ornata Gray, 1842: 61.

Hydrophis elliotti - Boulenger 1887: 408.

Distira ornata - Werner 1895: 19. - Boulenger 1896: 290.

Hydrophis ornatus ornatus - Smith 1926: 81. - Corkill and Cochrane 1965: 494. - Joger 1984: 34. - Leviton and Aldrich 1984: XXIV. - Gasperetti 1988: 315. - Firouz 2005: 209.

Hydrophis ornatus - Volsøe 1939: 18. - Leviton et al. 1992: 123. - Carpenter et al. 1997: 247. - Firouz 1999: 192. - Latifi 2000: 342. - Baldwin and Gardner 2005: 249. - Egan 2007: 151. - Rastegar-Pouyani et al. 2008: 20. - Safaei and Esmaili 2009: 45. - Soorae et al. 2010: 535. - Kamali 2013: 240. - Safaei-Mahroo et al. 2015: 282.

Material examined.

Persian Gulf: 3 specimens, Bushehr Province [(ZMSBUK.HD.10), TL 813, SVL 722, HL 26, HW 16.7, GL 18.8, SNL 4.9, NEL 3.9, ND 53, GBD 80, NSL 7, NSR 35, BSR 42, NB 41; (ZMSBUK.HD.13), TL 879, SVL 791, HL 28.1, HW 15, GL 12.5, SNL 4.2, NEL 4, ND 55, GBD 89, NSL 7, NSR 40, BSR 44, NV 302, NB 46; (ZMSBUK.HD.16), TL 1200, SVL 1072, HL 36.6, HW 23.7, GL 27.6, SNL 6, NEL 5.2, ND 74, GBD 157, NSL 7, NSR 41, BSR 50, NV 306, NB 53], September 2013, collector: M. Rezaie-Atagholipour.

Gulf of Oman: 3 specimens, Beris and Pasa-Bandar, depth 20-40m [(ZMSBUK.HD.3), TL 1015, SVL 908, HL 32.9, HW 30, GL 21.9, SNL 6.9, NEL 5.2, ND 68, GBD 110, NSL 8, NSR 37, BSR 42, NV 251, NB 51; (ZMSBUK.HD.7), TL 985, SVL 800, HL 32.6, HW 19.5, GL 23, SNL 6.5, NEL 5.2, ND 65, GBD 97, NSL 7, NSR 38, BSR 48, NV 260, NB 51; (ZMSBUK.HD.59), TL 1035, HL 33.9, HW 20.1, GL 24.1, SNL 5, NEL 5.3, ND 65, GBD 140, NSL 8, NSR 34, BSR 48, NV 286, NB 49], August 2013, collector: M. Rezaie-Atagholipour.

Diagnosis.

Head of medium size (Figure 17); 7-8 supralabials, second usually in contact with prefrontal, third and fourth, or third, fourth and fifth touch eye (Figure 16); body slightly stout, not markedly elongate (Figure 17 d–e); 251-306 ventrals, slightly distinguishable from adjacent scales (Figure 4c); 34-43 scale rows on neck and 40-50 on body.

Coloration.

Body dirty white (Figure 17e) to grayish (Figure 17d) with 41-53 rhomboidal or rectangular black or dark olive bands along body and tail, clearly distinguishable from each other (Figure 17 d-e).

Size.

Mean TL 988 mm, maximum 1200 mm (n = 6); [n = 1, TL 885 mm ( Volsøe 1939)].

General distribution.

Indo-West Pacific, from the Persian Gulf to Australia ( David and Ineich 1999; Smith 1926).

IUCN Red List Category.

Least concern ( IUCN 2016).

Remarks.

In the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, Hydrophis ornatus may be roughly misidentified with Hydrophis curtus (for more details see remarks of Hydrophis curtus ).