Aipysurus tenuis Lönnberg & Andersson, 1913:13
Arafura sea snake, Brown-lined sea snake, Mjoberg's seasnake
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Oceanius tenuis (Lönnberg & Andersson, 1913:13)
According to (Rasmussen, 2001) the Arafura sea snake (Aipysurus tenuis) is the most distinct taxon of the genus Aipysurus because it is the only species to exhibit more than 180 ventral scales.
Conservation Status
Missing
Last record: 1970
IUCN RedList status: Data Deficient
According to (Rasmussen, 2001) the Arafura sea snake (Aipysurus tenuis) is the most distinct taxon of the genus Aipysurus because it is the only species to exhibit more than 180 ventral scales. It is therefore unlikely that this species could be confused with its congeners, and hence misidentification of specimens thought to belong to other species in the genus cannot plausibly account for a lack of recent sightings. Its extinction must therefore be considered a real possibility giving a complete lack of sightings since 1970.
Distribution
Arafura Sea (Dampier to Broome?), Western Australia, Australia
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Kharin and Cheblyukov (2006) officially redescribed this species after finding an additional, non-type specimen preserved in a museum collection which had gone unnoticed.
Syntypes: NHRM 2400 (n=3) (Cogger et al., 1983:244; Kharin & Cheblyukov, 2006)
Type locality: "Cape Jaubert, near Broome, W.A." (Cogger et al., 1983:244)
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Lönnberg, E. and Andersson, L. G. (1913). Results of Dr. E. Mjöberg's Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910–1913. III. Reptiles. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Academiens Nya Handlingar, Stockholm 52(3): 1-173.
Other references:
Aplin, K. P. and Smith, L. A. (2001). Checklist of the frogs and reptiles of Westem Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement No. 63: 51-74.
Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp.
Cogger, H.G. 1975. The sea snakes of Australia and New Guinea. pp. 59-139 in Dunson, W. (ed.). The Biology of Sea Snakes. Baltimore : University Park Press.
Cogger, Harold G., Cameron, Elizabeth E. and Cogger, Heather M. (1983). Hydrophiidae, pp. 241-256. In: Zoological Catalogue of Australia. I. Amphibia and Reptilia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. vi + 313 pp. [p. 244]
Elfes, Cristiane T. et al. (2013). Fascinating and forgotten: the conservation status of marine elapid snakes. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 8(1): 37-52.
Guinea, M., Lukoschek, V. & Rasmussen, A. (2010). Aipysurus tenuis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 28 April 2012.
Kharin, V.E. and Cheblyukov, V.P. (2006). On a New Record of a Poorly Known and Rare Sea Snake [i]Aipysurus tenuis[/i] Lonnberg et Anderson, 1913 (Serpentes: Hydrophiidae) in the waters of Australia. Russian Journal of Marine Biology 32(3): 194-197. [Abstract]
Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Sanders, Kate Laura, Guinea, Michael L. and Amey, Andrew P. (2014). Sea snakes in Australian waters (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae)—a review with an updated identification key. Zootaxa 3869(4): 351-371.
Regalado, Pedro Galán. (2015). Los Anfibios y Reptiles Extinguidos: Herpetofauna Desaparecida Desde el Año 1500. Monografías de la Universidade da Coruña 155: 1-509.
Shuntov, V. P. (1972). Sea snakes of the North Australian Shelf. Ekologiya 4: 65-72. [Translation of 1971 paper by Consultants Bureau, New York]
Smith, M.A. 1926. Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). London : British Museum xvii 130 pp.
Smith, L. A. (1974). The sea snakes of Western Australia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae) with a description of a new subspecies. Rec. West. Aust. Mus. 3: 93-110.
Ward, T. M. (1996a). Sea snake bycatch of fish trawlers on the northern Australian continental shelf. Marine and Freshwater Research 47: 625-630.
Ward, T. M. (1996). Sea snake bycatch of prawn trawlers on the northern Australian continental shelf. Marine and Freshwater Research 47: 631-635.
Ward, T. M. (2000). Factors affecting the catch rates and relative abundance of sea snakes in the by-catch of trawlers targeting tiger and endeavour prawns on the northern Australian continental shelf. Marine and Freshwater Research 51: 155-164.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/15375/aipysurus-tenuis-brown-lined-snake
http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Aipysurus&species=tenuis