Elapidae
Authors/Creators
Description
Elapidae Suta Worrell, 1961
Type species. Hoplocephalus sutus (= Suta suta) Peters 1863: 234, by original tautonymy.
Synonymy this study. Parasuta Worrell 1961: 26.
Type species. Elaps gouldii (= Suta gouldii) Gray 1841: 91.
Content. Suta dwyeri (Worrell, 1956), Suta fasciata (Rosën, 1905), Suta flagellum (McCoy, 1878), Suta gaikhorstorum sp. nov., Suta gouldii (Gray, 1841), Suta monachus (Storr, 1964), Suta nigriceps (Gȕnther, 1863), Suta ordensis (Storr, 1984), Suta punctata (Boulenger, 1896), Suta spectabilis (Krefft, 1869), Suta suta (Peters, 1863). Comparisons with other species below are made with those occurring in close parapatry or sympatry.
Diagnosis. Partially based on Hutchinson (1990). Species within the genus Suta are small to moderate-sized nocturnal viviparous snakes (total length to 879 mm * in the largest species S. suta) with: head depressed and slightly to moderately wider than neck, no canthus rostralis, frontal not much longer than wide, internasals present slightly smaller than prefrontals, preocular in contact or not with nasal, temporals 2 + 2 (2 + 1 in some S. gaikhorstorum sp. nov. and in most S. monachus) lower primary temporal descending deeply between last two supralabials (occasionally contacting oral margin), supralabials 6, infralabials 7 (typically fourth infralabial distinctly divided in S. spectabilis), a consistent colour pattern of dark head markings (a brown to black hood in all but S. fasciata and S. punctata) and variable body colouration of shades of brown, greyish, reddish brown or bright red (cross-banded in S. fasciata, typically a dark vertebral stripe or zone in S. nigriceps), midbody scales very glossy and smooth, in 15‒19 (rarely 21) rows, anal and subcaudal scales undivided, ventral surface white with glossy shine (typically grey anterior edge of ventrals and subcaudals in S. ordensis **), eyes are black with pupils not distinguishable from irises or eyes are yellowish-brown to dark with round to widely elliptic pupils (Bush 2017). Further distinguished by unique 2n = 30 karyomorph (Mengden 1985). *Based on specimen held in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT R4820: SVL 775 mm, TailL 104 mm; Storr 1984: 250; G. Dally, pers. obs.). **Based on specimen observed in life (MAGNT R38139; C. Jolly, pers. obs.).
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References
- Worrell, E. (1961) Herpetological name changes. Western Australian Naturalist, 8, 18 - 27.
- Peters, W. (1863) Ubersicht der von Hrn. Richard Schomburgk an das zoologische Museum eingesandten Amphibien, aus Buchsfelde bei Adelaide in Sudaustralien. Monatsberichte der Koniglichen Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1863, 228 - 236.
- Gray, J. E. (1841) Description of some new species and four new genera of reptiles from Western Australia, discovered by John Gould Esq. Annals Magazine of Natural History, Series 1, 7 (42), 86 - 91. https: // doi. org / 10.1080 / 03745484109442670
- Storr, G. M. (1964) Denisonia monachus, a new elapid from Western Australia. The Western Australian Naturalist, 9, 89 - 90.
- Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III. Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History), London, 727 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 8316
- Krefft, G. (1869) The snakes of Australia: an illustrated and descriptive catalogue of all the known species. T. Richards, Sydney, 100 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 4679
- Hutchinson, M. N. (1990) The generic classification of the Australian terrestrial elapid snakes. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 29, 397 - 405.
- Bush, B. (2017) Additions to the description of Paroplocephalus atriceps (Serpentes: Elapidae) with a discussion on pupil shape in it and other Australian snakes. Zootaxa, 4344 (2), 333 - 344. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4344.2.8
- Mengden, G. A. (1985) Australian elapid phylogeny: a summary of the chromosomal and electrophoretic data. In: Grigg, G., Shine, R. & Ehmann, H. (Eds.), Biology of Australasian Frogs and Reptiles. Surrey Beatty & Sons, Sydney, pp. 185 - 192.