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Issue: Vol. 4758 No. 1: 27 Mar. 2020
Type: Article
Published: 2020-03-27
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4758.1.6
Page range: 141–156
Abstract views: 567
PDF downloaded: 12

A new species of turtle-headed sea Snake (Emydocephalus: Elapidae) endemic to Western Australia

School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Labex Corail & ISEA, Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, Nouméa, New Caledonia
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, NSW, Australia; School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Archiecture, Design and Conservation, (KADK), Copenhagen, Denmark
School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
School of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
Reptilia Hydrophiinae marine mitochondrial RADseq Australia systematics

Abstract

We describe a new species of turtle-headed sea snake Emydocephalus orarius sp. nov. (Elapidae) from Western Australia’s Coral Coast, Pilbara and Kimberley regions. Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial markers places the new species as the sister lineage to the two currently recognised species in Emydocephalus: E. annulatus from the Timor Sea reefs and Coral Sea, and E. ijimae from the Ryukyu Islands. Analysis of nuclear SNP data from the new species and E. annulatus from Australia and New Caledonia provides additional independent evidence of their evolutionary distinctiveness. The new taxon is usually morphologically diagnosable from its congeners using a combination of scalation and colour pattern characters, and appears to reach greater total lengths (>1 m in the new species versus typically ~80 cm in E. annulatus/E. ijimae). The new species is known largely from soft-bottomed trawl grounds, unlike E. annulatus and E.ijimae which usually inhabit coral reefs. The discovery of this new species brings the number of sea snake species endemic to Western Australia to six.

 

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