LEVITON, BROWN, & SILER: PHILIPPINE VENOMOUS SNAKES 
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Gulf to eastern Asia, including off the coasts of northern Borneo (Sarawak), Thailand, Vietnam, 
China, as far north as Taiwan (see David and Ineich 1999:177, also Stuebing and Inger 1999:220), 
as well as eastward to northern Australia and into the western Pacific (Zug 2013:231). 
Subfamily Laticaudinae 
Remarks. — The genus Laticauda has in recent years been assigned variously to the subfam¬ 
ily Elapinae, which includes cobras, kraits, and coralsnakes, and to the subfamily Hydrophiinae, 
the sea-snakesand Australian terrestrial elapids. Recent work by Castoe, Smith, Brown, and Parkin¬ 
son (2007) provides evidence for including the genus among the subfamily of sea snakes. Howev¬ 
er, others prefer to place the genus in a separate subfamily, the Laticaudinae, within the Family 
Elapidae (e.g., McCarthy 1986; David and Ineich 1999). 
Genus Laticauda Laurenti, 1768 
Sea Kraits 
Laticauda hsLUXQnti, 1768:109.— David and Ineich, 1999:122. 
Pseudolaticauda Kharin, 19846:134. 
Diagnosis. — Maxillary bone shorter than ectopterygoid, extends forward beyond palatine; 
venom fangs followed by 1-3 maxillary teeth; head scales normal, large; nostrils lateral, nasals sep¬ 
arated by internasals; body scales imbricate, smooth; ventrals large, at least half the width of body. 
Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) 
Yellow-lipped Sea Krait 
Figures 16A, 17B, 18B,48 
Hydrus colubrinus Schneider, 1799:238. 
Laticauda colubrina, Taylor, 1922a:231, pi. 29.— Smith, 1926:6; 1943:443.— McCarthy, 1993:146.— David 
and Ineich, 1999:123.— Whitaker and Captain, 2004:386, photo (p. 387).— Rasmussen et al., 2011:9. 
Description. — Ventrals large, one- 
third to more than V 2 width of body; nos¬ 
trils lateral; nasals separated by inter¬ 
nasals; an azygous prefrontal scale usual¬ 
ly present; rostral undivided; body scales 
imbricate, in 21-23 longitudinal rows 
aboud neck, 21-25 longitudinal rows at 
midbody; color above light or dark bluish- 
grey above, yellowish below, with 24-64 
black bands of more or less uniform width 
above and somewhat narrower than the 
lighter interspaces, and sometimes nar¬ 
rowing across the belly, head black except 
for a well-defined yellow horseshoe¬ 
shaped marking that originates on the 
snout and extends backwards beyond the 
eyes to the temporal region and yellow upper lips; ventrals 213-245. subcaudals paired, (cJ) 37-47, 
(?) 29-37. 
Size. — Total length (c?) 875 mm, (?) 1420 mm; tail length (cJ) 130 mm, (?) 145 mm. 
Distribution. — Philippines (Bantayan; Jolo; Luzon [Manila Bay]). Elsewhere: Smith 
(1943:444) states that this species is not commonly met in “Indian and Indo-Chinese waters” 
Figure 48. Laticauda colubrina (Schneider, 1799) (Insert 
showing color markings on side of head). Photos by Cameron Siler 
(from Mastre de Campo Island). 
