Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. Loud. (Zool.) 59(2): 97-105 



Issued 25 November 1993 



The status of the Persian Gulf sea snake 

 Hydrophis lapemoides (Gray, 1849) 

 (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae) 



THE NATURAL 

 HISTORY MUSEUN 



-6 DEC 1993 

 ZOOLOGY L1BR AF 



ARNE REDSTED RASMUSSEN 



Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen 0, 

 Denmark 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 97 



Materials and methods 97 



Systematic account 98 



Acknowledgments 103 



References 104 



Synopsis. A redescription is given of the two syntypes of Hydrophis lapemoides together with a description of 

 specimens from the whole range of the species. Information on breeding and feeding biology and epizooic organisms 

 of H. lapemoides is provided. Geographical variation was found between the following three areas: Andaman Sea 

 and Malacca Strait, India and Sri Lanka, and Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. Finally the validity of H. lapemoides 

 is tested against its congeners. 



INTRODUCTION 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



In 1849, Gray described Hydrophis lapemoides on the basis of 

 two specimens from Sri Lanka and Madras, respectively. In 

 addition to the syntypes Smith (1926) had eight specimens 

 available for characterizing the species. Smith recorded H. 

 lapemoides from the Persian Gulf, and coasts of India and 

 Ceylon, and considered it as a rare species. Vols0e (1939) 

 collected eight specimens in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of 

 Oman, and concluded that H. lapemoides is a fairly common 

 snake in these waters. Minton (1966) mentioned two speci- 

 mens from the coast of Pakistan, and in 1981 Toriba & Sawai 

 extended the known range of H. lapemoides from the East 

 coast of India to Penang Island, Malaysia. Tamiya et al. 

 (1983) identified some sea snakes from the Philippines as H. 

 lapemoides, the identification, however, was questioned by 

 Rasmussen (1987). Rasmussen recorded specimens from Sin- 

 gapore and Phuket Island, Thailand, thereby confirming the 

 presence of H. lapemoides in the Malacca Strait and Anda- 

 man Sea, respectively. Recently Gasperetti (1988) considered 

 H. lapemoides as the most frequent sea snake of the Persian 

 Gulf. 



On the basis of my own collections in 1985, 1987 and 1989 

 from Phuket Harbour, and in 1990 from Bahrain, Persian 

 Gulf, I have a most welcome opportunity to describe H. 

 lapemoides from its whole range, and to test the validity of H. 

 lapemoides against its congeners. Some comments on the 

 biology of H. lapemoides are also given. 



Material examined 



Hydrophis lapemoides BMNH: 1946.1.7.2 (syntype) (for- 

 merly III. 3. 3. a) Ceylon. 1946.1.6.91 (syntype) (formerly 

 III.3.3.b) Madras. 1946.1.3.88 (type of H. stewartii) (for- 

 merly 83.7.30.10) Orissa, Poorie. 1946.1.9.25 (type of H. 

 holdsworthii) (formerly 72.1.26.41) Ceylon. 72.1.26.43 Cey- 

 lon. 80. 1 1 . 10. 199 Gwadur, Baluchistan. 1904.6. 13.19 Mekran 

 coast, Charbar. 1969.2902 Persian Gulf. 1972.689 Dubai, 

 Trucial Oman. 1971.135-136 Bahrain. 1970.753 east coast of 

 Bahrain. 1971.1461 Bahrain harbour. 1973.410 Sharjah, Tru- 

 cial coast. 1983.1169 Najwa, Darninam reef. 1983.1163-1164 

 Dammam channel. 1983.1170 Oqair Bay. 1983.1172 Half 

 Moon Bay, Saudi Arabia. 1985.646 Azaiba, Batinah. FMNH: 

 28310-1 1 Bahrain. 64432 Tarut Bay, Ras Tonura. 73996-97 Al 

 Khobar, Arabia. 82577 Persian Gulf 26° 39'N, 50° 07'E. 

 121473 Ceylon. USNM: 127993 Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia. 

 132402 Saudi Arabia. RMNH: 18026 Bahrain. ZMUC: R 

 66166-173 Persian Gulf (map in Vols0e, 1939). 66101 Mal- 

 acca Str. (Singapore) 1° 35'N, 103° 01'E. R 66460, 66587-603, 

 66605-616, 66618-627, 66629-639 all collected from trawling 

 boats in Phuket port, Phuket Island, west coast of peninsular 

 Thailand. R 66927, 937, 939-941, 945, 950, 951, 954, 958, 961, 

 964, 965, 967, 968, 970, 971, 973-975, 980-1001, 1004-1006, 

 1009, 1011, 1013 Persian Gulf 100 km north-northeast of 

 Bahrain. 



©The Natural History Museum. 1993 



