Hydrophis belcheri ( Gray, 1849 )

Rasmussen, Arne Redsted, Sanders, Kate Laura, Guinea, Michael L. & Amey, Andrew P., 2014, Sea snakes in Australian waters (Serpentes: subfamilies Hydrophiinae and Laticaudinae) - a review with an updated identification key, Zootaxa 3869 (4), pp. 351-371 : 353

Hydrophis belcheri ( Gray, 1849) .

Hydrophis belcheri was described by Gray (1849) who gave the type locality “New Guinea” with no further information. Smith (1926) re-described H. belcheri based on 21 specimens mainly from the Philippines, New Guinea and Fiji Islands. Most of Smith’s H. belcheri specimens have since been reassigned to the following taxa: Hydrophis coggeri , H. czeblukovi , H. pachycercos and H. pacificus ( Cogger, 1975; Kharin, 1983, 1984a; Rasmussen, Gravlund, van Nguyen, & Chanhome, 2007; Rasmussen & Smith, 1997). However, H. belcheri has been confirmed to occur from the Gulf of Thailand to the South China Sea ( McCarthy & Warrell, 1991; Rasmussen, Elmberg, et al., 2011). There is a single record of H. belcheri from Australian waters identified by Kharin and Cheblukov (2007). The specimen is an adult female (# TINRO P 40) from the Arafura Sea, collected by V.P. Cheblukov, March 1970. Cheblukov’s specimen is in good accordance with the type of H. belcheri , confirming this species’ presence in Australian waters ( Kharin & Cheblukov, 2007).