Hydrophis [Astrotia] stokesii (Gray, 1846)

Malayan [or Stokes’] Sea Snake

Hydrus stokesii (part) Gray in Stokes, 1846:502.

Astrotia stokesi, Wall, 1909:250 .

Astrotia stokesii, Smith, 1926:113 .— Dunson and Minton, 1978:282.— David and Ineich, 1999:63.— Wallach, Williams, and Boundy, 2014:59.

Hydrophis [Astrotia] stokesii, Leviton, Brown, and Siler, 2014:512, figs. 27B, 47.

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE SPECIMEN (S).— Australian seas. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1.17.12 (formerly BMNH III.9.1.d; fide Smith [1926:115]).

PHILIPPINE DISTRIBUTION (Map 19B [p. 130]).— Gigantes Sur (Prov.: Iloilo) (see Dunson and Minton [1978:282]).

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER THAN PHILIPPINES).— Widely distributed from India to Australia and north into the South China Sea. (See David and Ineich [1999:63], and Wallach, et al. [2014:59] for details.)

REMARKS.— We have tentatively assigned this species to Hydrophis consistent with the treatments of Hydrophis and related nominal genera by Sanders et al. (2013) and Pyron et al. (2013).

CONSERVATION STATUS [IUCN].— Least Concern [2016] ver. 3.1.