Hydrophis atriceps Günther, 1864

Southeast Asian Sea Snake; Blackheaded Banded Sea Snake

Hydrophis atriceps Günther, 1864:371, fig.— McCarthy, 1993c:230.— David and Ineich, 1999:104.— Rasmussen, 2001:4001, 1 fig.— Leviton, Brown, and Siler, 2014:503, figs. 19B, 23A, 24A.— Wallach, Williams, and Boundy, 2014:334.

Disteira cincinnatii Van Denburgh and Thompson, 1908:41, pl. (type locality: Manila Bay, off Cavite, Luzon Id.; holotype: CAS 15016).

Hydrophis fasciatus atriceps, Smith, 1926:97, fig. 27; 1943:465.

Hydrophis fasciatus, Alcala, 1986a:164 .

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE SPECIMEN (S).— Siam. Syntypes (2): BMNH 1946.1.2.62 (formerly BMNH 62.11.1.255), and BMNH 63.9.29.5; fide Smith [1926:98]; see also Wallach et al. [2014:334]).

PHILIPPINE DISTRIBUTION (Map 16D [p. 127])— Luzon (Prov.: Cavite [Manila Bay]), Mindanao, Samar, Sulu Archipelago, Visayan Sea.

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER THAN PHILIPPINES).— coastal waters off the east coast of Malaysia, Gulf of Thailand,Vietnam, southern China, Indonesia to western New Guinea, and northern Australia.

REMARKS.— This species is so similar in appearance to H. fasciatus that the two have been regarded as conspecific, though treated as distinct subspecies (Smith [1926, 1943]), but recent studies have treated tham as distinct species (see McCarthy [1993:230, 234]; David and Ineich [1999:104, 109]; Wallach et al. [2014:462]). Alcala (1986:164) referred to records from the Visayan Sea and areas around Samar, Mindanao, and the Sulu islands to H. fasciatus but David and Ineich (1999:105) noted that “According to A. R. Rasmussen (pers. comm., June 1996), all references of Hydrophis fasciatus based on specimens taken East of Malacca Strait, from Gulf of Thailand to southern China and to the north coast of Australia, belong to Hydrophis atriceps; we follow his interpretation.” We accept this interpretation as well.

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