A revision of the distribution of sea kraits (Reptilia, Laticauda) with an updated occurrence dataset for ecological and conservation research

By

Gherghel, Iulian
Papeş, Monica
Brischoux, François, 1980-
Sahlean, Tiberiu
Strugariu, Alexandru

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2016

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

569

Pages

135-148

Subjects

Amphibious snakes , Distribution , Elapidae , geodatabase , marine , open access , Sea snakes

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.569.6975

 

Abstract

The genus Laticauda (Reptilia: Elapidae), commonly known as sea kraits, comprises eight species of marine amphibious snakes distributed along the shores of the Western Pacific Ocean and the Eastern Indian Ocean. We review the information available on the geographic range of sea kraits and analyze their distribution patterns. Generally, we found that south and south-west of Japan, Philippines Archipelago, parts of Indonesia, and Vanuatu have the highest diversity of sea krait species. Further, we compiled the information available on sea kraits’ occurrences from a variety of sources, including museum records, field surveys, and the scientific literature. The final database comprises 694 occurrence records, with L. colubrina having the highest number of records and L. schistorhyncha the lowest. The occurrence records were georeferenced and compiled as a database for each sea krait species. This database can be freely used for future studies.