AUSTRALIAN TIGER SNAKES AND COPPERHEADS 
131 
Thomson (1932) showed that variations in a 
single population overlapped the descriptions of 
ater and niger, there seems to be no reason for 
retaining niger as a subspecies and it is here 
synonymised with ater. 
Worrell (1963c) described two new sub¬ 
species, A 7 . ater serxentyi from Chappell Island 
and A 7 , ater humphreysi from New Year Island, 
both in Bass Strait. As these subspecies were 
based on venom and ecological differences, and 
as the comparative aspects of the work w ere not 
sufficiently comprehensive, there appears to be 
no reason for the retention of these names. 
Glauert (1948) named the southwestern tiger 
snakes N. scutatus occidentalism basing his de¬ 
scription on 40 specimens in the Western Aus¬ 
tralian Museum, Perth. He compared these with 
Kinghorn’s (1929) scale counts for N. scutatus 
scutatus , assuming these figures to be typical for 
southeastern Australian specimens. More recent 
work (Mitchell 1951, Rawlinson 1965). how¬ 
ever, has demonstrated that KinghoriTs scale 
counts were inaccurate, probably being based on 
Boulcnger’s (1896) figures for Brachyaspis curta. 
Kinghorn (1956), apparently realising his error, 
deleted these scale counts from the second 
edition of his book but provided no alternatives; 
he also mentioned N. scutatus occidentalism ap¬ 
parently not recognising it. Thus, although 
Glauert provided a valuable list of scale counts 
for southern Western Australian tiger snakes, he 
did not have accurate data on eastern popula¬ 
tions for comparison. As Glauert's colour de¬ 
scription and scale counts overlap descriptions 
of eastern populations referred to N. ater , this 
name has been applied to the Western Aus¬ 
tralian populations by Rawlinson (1974), 
though Storr et al. (1986) continued to use the 
combination N. scutatus occidentalis. 
Two other names, Hoplocephalusfuscus Stein- 
dachner, 1867 and Alecto fasciolata Jan & Sor- 
delli, 1873, have been included by Cogger et al. 
(1983) in the synonymy of Notechis scutatus. 
Despite searches by the author and others in 
European collections used by Steindachner and 
Jan & Sordelli, the type specimens of neither 
species can be located (Cogger et al. 1983) and 
are therefore presumed lost. 
Most of Steindachner’s description of H. fits- 
cus (Appendix 2), especially the “vertical” (= 
frontal) shield that is almost as w r ide as long and 
tne banded pattern, clearly indicates a tiger 
^nake. All three type specimens, however, were 
said to have only 15 midbody scale rows, a stat¬ 
istically most unlikely result for mainland tiger 
snakes. One or both of the larger (unbanded) 
specimens could have been copperheads, which 
have 15 midbody scale rows. However, 15 mid¬ 
body scale rows are also found in a minority of 
Tasmanian tiger snakes which are frequently un¬ 
banded, and the ventral count given (ca 177) is 
higher than that recorded in any copperhead 
population but w'ithin the normal range for tiger 
snakes. It is therefore considered that Hoploce¬ 
phalus fuscus Steindachner, 1867 is a junior sub¬ 
jective synonym of Hoplocephalus ater. 
The name Alecto fasciolata first appeared as a 
nomen nudum in a list in Jan (1863), w'here the 
only identifying character noted w r as a midbody 
scale count of 17. The illustration in Jan & 
Sordelli (1873, liv. 43, pi. 6, fig. 4) shows a very 
well-banded tiger snake in wTiich the pale cross¬ 
bands are markedly narrower than the very dark 
interspaces. Such a combination of colour pat¬ 
tern and scale count is more typical of N. ater 
than of N. scutatus. Therefore Alecto fasciolata is 
also regarded as a junior subjective synonym of 
Hoplocephalus ater. 
In order to stabilise the status of Hoplocepha¬ 
lus fuscus and Alecto fasciolata, specimen SAM 
R14373. a male, from Diprose Lake, Tasmania 
(41 ° 49' S, 147° 22' E), collected by H. Ehmann in 
February 1973, is here designated neotype of 
both species. The neotype has the following 
taxonomically important characteristics. Mid¬ 
body scale row's 17. Ventrals 173. Anal single. 
Subcaudals 53, entire (hemipenis reaches to 
fourteenth subcaudal). Frontal truncate an¬ 
teriorly, about as wide as long. Head uniform 
dark brown above. Neck and forebody similar to 
head in base colour but with indistinct, narrow 
(about half a scale wide), pale cross-bands be¬ 
coming more pronounced and broader (to one 
and a half scales wide) laterally. Dark inter¬ 
spaces about two to three scales wide. Banding 
disappears dorsally about mid-body and last 
traces of lateral bands disappear by the last third 
of the body. Lower labials, throat, and chin olive 
grey. Anterior ventrals dull yellow with irregular 
black edgings posteriorly and laterally. Ventral 
colour darkening to olive grey with less distinct 
dark edges by mid body, and to dark grey on the 
posterior belly and subcaudals. Snout-vent 
length 962 mm, tail 177 mm. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
The author thanks Dr H. G. Cogger and Mr R. 
Sadlier (Australian Museum, Sydney), Mr A. J. 
Coventry (Museum of Victoria, Melbourne), Mr 
R. Green (Queen Victoria Museum, Launces¬ 
ton), the late F. J. Mitchell, Dr T. D. Schwaner 
