AUSTRALIAN TIGER SNAKES AND COPPERHEADS 
129 
farther into the drier interior areas of New South 
Wales but excluded most of the Darling River 
and its tributaries. 
Notechis scutatus (Peters, 1861) 
Alectocurta. — Dumeril et al. 1854: 1252-1254 (in 
part: non Naja curta Schlegel, 1837). 
HoplocephalUS curtus. — Gunther 1858: 216 (in 
part). 
Naja (Hamadryas) scutata Peters 1861: 690. 
Notechis scutatus .— Boulenger 1896: 351 (in 
part).—Rawlinson 1969: 122. 
^Notechis scutatus [scutatus ].— Kinghorn 1956: 141 — 
Specimens examined. 67. 
Sedation. Scales around midbody 17 (11), 19 
(55), 21 (1). Ventral scales 158-185. Anal scale 
entire. Subcaudal scales 36-61, all single. The 
head and chin shields are similar to those of N. 
tfto'and there appear to be no consistent differ¬ 
ences. As in N. a ter, the head shields are subject 
to intraspecific variation. Figures can be found 
in Waite (1929) and Rawlinson (1965). 
(dour. Very variable, green, grey-green or 
brown dorsal scales traversed by roughly 30 mm 
wide lighter or darker crossbands. There is also a 
morph with light brown dorsal scales and no 
crossbands (Rawlinson 1965, Worrell 1963d). 
Ventral scales lighter green, grey or brown, 
sometimes yellow. Subcaudals the same as the 
ventrals. 
Remarks. Peters (1861) described Naja 
(Hamadryas) scutata from a single specimen 
supposedly collected in Java. The holotype, 
ZMB 2815, cannot be located despite extensive 
searches by the author and others, and the speci¬ 
men is presumed lost (Cogger et al. 1983: 229). 
Peters’ description (see Appendix 2) does not 
apply to any Javanese or even Asian elapid (van 
Hoesel 1959, Tweedie 1983, Welch 1988), 
which do not have the lower anterior temporal 
penetrating deeply between the last two supra- 
labials, and most of which have seven supra- 
labials (six in Calliophis melanurus) and at least 
some subcaudals divided. Bungarus Daudin, 
1803, the only Asian genus generally lacking div¬ 
ided subcaudals, has only a single anterior tem¬ 
poral (Smith 1943). Calliophis Gray, 1835 and 
Maticora Gray, 1835 are also ruled out by their 
midbody scale count of 15 or fewer. The type 
locality of Java is therefore in error. 
Among the proteroglyphous snakes, Peters’ 
description uniquely fits the Australian elapids 
in the deeply wedged lower anterior temporal 
(characteristic of the Australian elapids accord¬ 
ing to McDowell 1970) combined with entire 
anal and subcaudal scales. Only the tiger snakes 
combine these two features, plus 17 midbody 
scale rows and a transversely banded colour pat- 
