104 



A. REDSTED RASMUSSEN 



38 



36 



34 



32 



w 30 



28 



26 



38 



+ Andaman sea and Malacca Str. 

 D India and Sri Lanka 



Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman 



+ + 



+ + + + 



• ■ + + + + + ffl 

 x x - + --* + + 



X X X X >. D X 

 X X X > 

 X > • 



40 



42 



44 46 48 

 Scale rows on body 



50 



52 



54 



92 

 90 

 88 

 86 

 84 

 82 

 80 

 78 

 76 

 74 

 72 

 70 



■ • 



• 



X • > 





... 



XX 



. . 





. _ 





* + XX> 





+ + + ■ 





+ + 





+ * D 





+ + 



+ Andaman Sea and Malacca Str. 

 □ India and Sri Lanka 



Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman 



162 166 170 174 178 182 

 Number of vertebrae 



186 



190 



40 -, 



+ 



D 



Andaman sea and Malacca Str. 

 India and Sri Lanka 



38 





Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman 

 H. sp. near H. lapemoides 



36- 





+ + + + + + 



34 





O ■ + + 



+ m + + 



32 





. . . + . + 



X + ■ ■ 



30 



X 



U*-Type of tL slewadi 



□ 



28 



?6 





X 



96 



94 

 92 

 90 

 88 

 86 

 84 

 82 

 80 

 78 



38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 

 Scale rows on body 



76 



+ 



Andaman Sea and Malacca Str. 





□ 



India and Sri Lanka 









Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman 



'. *-Type of tL siewani 



o 



tL sp. near hL lapemoides 





X 







■ 



X X 







■ 



■ ■ 





■ ■ 





< X X X 





□ + 



IEI 







■ + 



■ • 







+ - + 



+ 







+ + + + + • 









+ + + + D 









D * + + + + 









+ + 









+ 







"168 170 172 174 176 178 180 182 184 186 188 

 Number of vertebrae 



Fig. 6 Relation between number of scale rows on body and 

 number of scale rows on neck in males (top) and females 

 (bottom) of H. lapemoides, showing geographic variation. 



Fig. 7 Relation between number of body vertebrae and position of 

 heart tip in males (top) and females (bottom) of H. lapemoides, 

 showing geographic variation. 



REFERENCES 



Ahmed, S. 1975. Sea-snakes of the Indian Ocean in the collections of the 

 Zoological Survey of India together with remarks on the geographical 

 distribution of all Indian Ocean species. Journal of Marine Biological 

 Association of India 17:73-81. 



Anderson, J. 1872. On some Persian. Himalayan, and other reptiles. Proceed- 

 ings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London. 

 1872:399. 



Boulenger, G. A. 1896. Catalogue of the British Museum (Natural History) 

 Serpentes 3. British Museum, London. 



Bussarawit, S., Rasmussen, A. R. & Andersen, M. 1989. A preliminary study 

 on sea snakes (Hydrophiidae) from Phuket harbour, Phuket Island, Thai- 



land. Natural History Bulletin of Siam Society 37:209-225. 

 Cogger, H. G. 1975. Sea snakes of Australia and New Guinea pp. 59-139 In: 



W. A. Dunson (Ed.) Biology of Sea Snakes. University Park Press. 



Baltimore. London & Tokyo. 

 De Silva P. H. D. H. 1980. Snake Fauna of Sri Lanka. National Museum of Sri 



Lanka. Colombo. Sri Lanka. 

 Dowling, H. G., & Savage, J. M. 1960. A guide to the snake hemipenis: A 



survey of basic structure and systematic characteristics. Zoologica 45:17-28. 

 Dunson, W. A., & Minton, S. A. 1978. Diversity, distribution, and ecology of 



Philippine marine snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). Journal of Herpetology 



12:281-286. 

 Gasperetti, J. 1988. Snakes of Arabia. In: Buttiker. W. and F. Krupp (Eds.), 



Fauna of Saudi Arabia. 9:298-326. 



