Simoselaps

Simoselaps
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Simoselaps
Jan, 1859

Simoselaps, or Australian coral snakes, is a genus composed of 14 species of venomous elapid snakes.

Geographic range

Species of the genus Simoselaps are found throughout Australia.

Description

Australian coral snakes are small snakes. They have smooth and polished scales, shovel-shaped snouts, and are brightly marked with bands or annuli.

Habitat and behavior

Species of Simoselaps are found mainly in arid regions. They are burrowing snakes which move beneath the surface through loose sand or soil. At night they come to the surface to feed on small lizards and reptile eggs.

Reproduction

All species of Australian coral snakes are oviparous and lay clutches of three to five eggs.

Simoselaps fasciolatus

Species

Species Authority Subsp. Common name Geographic range
S. anomalus (Sternfeld, 1919) None northern desert banded snake Australia (Northern Territory, South and Western Australia)
S. approximans (Glauert, 1954) None north-western shovel-nosed snake Western Australia
S. australis (Krefft, 1864) None Australian coral snake South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria
S. bertholdi (Jan, 1864) None desert banded snake Australia
S. bimaculatus (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) None black-naped burrowing snake South and Western Australia
S. calonotus (A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854) None black-striped burrowing snake Western Australia
S. fasciolatus (Günther, 1872) 2 narrow-banded shovel-nosed snake South and Western Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Queensland
S. incinctus (Storr, 1968) None unbanded shovel-nosed snake Australia: Northern Territory and Queensland
S. littoralis (Storr, 1968) None west-coast banded snake Western Australia
S. minimus (Worrell, 1960) None Dampierland burrowing snake Western Australia
S. morrisi Horner, 1998 None Arnhem shovel-nosed snake[1] Australia:Northern Territory
S. roperi (Kinghorn, 1931) None northern shovel-nosed snake Western Australia, Kimberley Region and Northern Territory
S. semifasciatus (Günther, 1863) 3 southern shovel-nosed snake, half-girdled snake Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland
S. warro (De Vis, 1884) None robust burrowing snake Australia: Queensland

Several of the above species are sometimes placed in the genus Brachyurophis.

References

  1. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Simoselaps morrisi, p. 183).

Further reading

External links


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