LEVITON, BROWN, & SILER: PHILIPPINE VENOMOUS SNAKES 
503 
Hy drop his atriceps Gunther, 1864 
Southeast Asian Sea Snake 
Figme 19B, 23A, 24A 
Hydrophis atriceps Gunther, 1864:371, fig.— McCarthy, 1993:230.— David and Ineich, 1999:104.— Ras¬ 
mussen 2001:4001, 1 fig. 
Hydrophis fasciatiis atriceps. Smith, 1926:97, fig. 27; 1943:465. 
Diagnosis. — Head small, body long and slender anteriorly; scales on thickest part of body 
subquadrangular or hexagonal in shape, juxtaposed or slightly imbricate; 5-6 maxillary teeth 
behind fangs; 2 anterior temporals; body scales in 25-30 (usually 27-29) rows around the neck, 
39-49 (usually 43-53) around midbody (increase in number of rows from neck to midbody 12-20); 
ventral scales 320-455 (average 366 or less); anterior part of body including head and neck dark 
olive to black with pale oval yellowish spots on sides, sometimes connected as crossbars; posteri¬ 
or, grayish; below whitish; dark rhomboidal spots may extend down the sides of the body and form 
complete annuli in young. 
Size. — Total length (cj) 1100 mm, (5) 990 mm; tail length ((5^) 100 mm, ($) 75 mm. 
Distribution. — Philippines (Mindanao; Samar; Sulu Archipelago; Visayan Sea). Elsewhere: 
coastal waters off the east coast of Malaysia, Gulf of Thailand,Vietnam, southern China, Indonesia 
to western New Guinea, and northern Australia. 
Remarks. — This species is so similar in appearance to H, fasciatiis that the two have been 
regarded as conspecific, though treated as distinct subspecies (Smith 1926, 1943), but recent stud¬ 
ies have treated tham as distinct species (see McCarthy 1993:230, 234; David and Ineich 1999:104, 
109). Alcala (1986:164) referred to records from the Visayan Sea and areas around Samar, Min¬ 
danao, and the Sulu islands to H. fasciatus but David and Ineich (1999:105) noted that “According 
to A. R. Rasmussen (pers. commun., .lune 1996), all references of Hydrophis fasciatiis based on 
specimens taken East of Malacca Strait, from Gulf of Thailand to southern China and to the north 
coast of Australia, belong to Hydrophis atriceps', we follow his interpretation.” We accept this inter¬ 
pretation as well. 
Hydrophis belcheri (Gray, 1849) 
Belcher’s Sea Snake 
Aturia belcheri Gray, 1849:46. 
Hydrophis belcheri, McCarthy, 1993:230.— David and Ineich, 1999:105.— Rasmussen et al, 2011:5. 
Description. — Head moderate, body elongate, compressed posteriorly, two to four times the 
diameter of the neck; 7-8 [rarely 6 or 9] maxillary teeth behind venom fangs; nonnally one supral- 
abial (4th, but occasionally two, 3''^ and 4 ^h or 4^^ and 5^^) borders eye; one anterior temporal, occa¬ 
sionally divided by a horizontal groove; 24—27 scales around neck, 32-37 around midbody; ven- 
trals 278-313; body color yellow or gi'ayish above, yellow-whitish below, 52-70 dark bands, head 
black in young, lighter in adults, with yellowish or olive markings. (After Rasmussen et al. 2011:5.) 
Size. — Total length (cJ) 1240 mm, ff) 1110 mm; tail length (S) 120 mm, ($) 90 mm. 
Distribution. — Philippines (unknown although Alcala (1986a: 166) states that it “has been 
recorded from the central Philippine sea.”; otherwise, it has been reported from the coastal waters 
off of Vietnam in the South China Sea [Rasmussen et al. 2011:5]). Elsewhere: Gulf of Thailand, 
Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Guinea (David and Ineich [1999:105] noting earlier discussions by 
McDowell [1972:217] and McCarthy and Warrell [1991:162-163], now refer the Australasian 
records to Hydrophis pacificus, but see also Kharin [2005:161], whose observations heighten the 
confusion regarding the identification of samples of populations supposedly belonging to 
H. belcheri. See also comments by Rasmussen (2001) relating to H. coggeri. 
