title: Sea snakes in Australian waters (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae)--a review with an updated identification key.
abstract: Sea snakes (Elapidae, subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) reach high species richness in the South China Sea and in the Australian region; however, most countries in the two regions still lack up-to-date checklists and identification tools for these snakes. We present an updated reviewed checklist and a new complete identification key to sea snakes in Australian waters. The identification key includes 29 species documented and 4 possibly occurring taxa and is based mostly on easy-to-use external characters. We find no evidence for breeding populations of Laticauda in Australian waters, but include the genus on the list of possibly occurring taxa.
authors.affiliation: The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. Esplanaden 34 DK-1264, Copenhagen K, Denmark.; Email: arr@kadk.dk.
authors.forename: Arne Redsted
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: School of Earth and Environmental Science. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.; Email: kate.sanders@adelaide.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kate Laura
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental. Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territories 0909, Australia.; Email: michael.guinea@cdu.edu.au.
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Guinea
authors.affiliation: Queensland Museum. PO Box 3300, South Brisbane BC. Queensland 4101, Australia.; Email: andrew.amey@qm.qld.gov.au.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Amey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D001315:Australia; D017815:Elapidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification; D005260:Female; D012911:Snakes / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification