TAXONOMY AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN TIGER SNAKES 
(NOTECHIS) AND COPPERHEADS (AUSTRELAPS) (SERPENTES, ELAPIDAE) 
P. A. Rawlinson 
(Deceased April 1991) 
Department of Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083 
Reprint requests to: A. J. Coventry. Museum of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000 
Rawlinson. P. A., 1991:1 2:3 1. The taxonomy of the Australian tiger snakes ( Notechis ) and 
copperheads ( Austrelaps) (Serpentes, Elapidae). Proceedings of the Royal Society of 
Victoria 103 (2): 125-135. ISSN 0035-9211. 
The taxonomic histories of species of the Australian snake genera Notechis and Aus- 
trelaps are reviewed. A lectotype is selected for Hoplocephalussuperbus Gunther. 1858 (type 
species of Austrelaps) and neotypes are proposed for the following species '.Alecto fasciolatus 
Jan & Sordelli, 1873; Alec to labial is Jan, 1859: Hoplocephalus fuscus Steindachner, 1867; 
Hoplocephalus ramsayi K ref ft, 1864: and Naja (Hamadryas) scutata Peters. 1861 (type 
species of Notechis). Hoplocephalus bransbyi Macleay, 1878 is a junior objective synonym of 
H. ramsayi. Hoplocephalus fuscus and Alecto fasciolatus are objective synonyms of each 
other and junior subjective synonyms of Hoplocephalus ater. Austrelaps labialis and Aus¬ 
trelaps ramsayi are formally removed from the synonymy of Austelaps superbus and given 
full specific status. 
THE SYSTEMATICS of Australian reptiles 
were poorly understood until recent times. A 
number of historical problems had contributed 
to this situation, often including many of the 
following: (1) type specimens lost or not allo¬ 
cated; (2) type specimens inaccurately or 
inadequately described; (3) type localities not 
given, too general or inaccurate; (4) early 
synonyms overlooked or more recent synonyms 
not quoted; (5) insufficient attention given to the 
variability of a species over its whole range; (6) 
lack of accurate data on morphology and biol¬ 
ogy, many authors simply repeating earlier ac¬ 
counts; and (7) generic changes of species 
without re-examination of type specimens. 
The publication by Cogger et al. (1983) of a 
comprehensive catalogue of the Australian her- 
petofauna rectified many taxonomic errors and 
clarified the status of most taxa, but several 
nomenclatural problems remained unresolved. 
The present paper deals with two such problem 
taxa. the Australian tiger snakes (Notechis spp.) 
and copperheads (Austrelaps spp.). 
Abbreviated prefixes of specimen numbers 
cited herein refer to the following institutions: 
Australian Museum, Sydney (AM); Natural His¬ 
tory Museum, London (BMNH); Museum of 
Victoria, Melbourne (NMV); South Australian 
Museum, Adelaide (SAM); Zoologisches 
Museum, Museum fiir Naturkunde der Hum¬ 
boldt Universitat zu Berlin (ZMB); Zoolog¬ 
isches Museum, Universitat Hamburg (ZMH) 
SYSTEMATICS 
Austrelaps Worrell, 1963a 
Type species. Hoplocephalus superbus Gunther, 
1858. 
Remarks. Austrelaps was established for the two 
species Hoplocephalus superbus and Alecto sig- 
nata Jan, 1859, but the latter is now assigned to 
Hemiaspis Fitzinger, 1860 (Cogger et al. 1983). 
The species superbus (first as Denisonia superba 
and later as Austrelaps superbus) has been recog¬ 
nised by all authors since Boulenger (1896), but 
Rawlinson (1969, 1971) stated that forms as¬ 
signed to the species include two distinct mor¬ 
phological groups differing in distribution and 
ecology. These groups were referred to as the 
lowlands and highlands forms. A third group 
from the Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo 
Island, South Australia, originally regarded by 
Rawlinson (1969) as an isolate of the highlands 
form, was recognised by Sutherland (1983) as 
the Adelaide Hills or pigmy copperhead. This 
group is referred to herein as the dwarf form. 
Shine (1987a) stated that the lowlands, high¬ 
lands and dwarf forms correspond respectively 
to A. superbus , A. ramsayi (Krefft, 1864) and A. 
labialis (Jan, 1859). This view has been con¬ 
firmed in the present study by examination of 
existing types and reference to original descrip¬ 
tions and illustrations. 
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