Hydrophis, Latreille, 1801

Leviton, Alan E., Siler, Cameron D., Weinell, Jeffrey L. & Brown, Rafe M., 2018, Synopsis of the Snakes of the Philippines, Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 64 (14), pp. 399-568 : 460

Hydrophis [ Chitulia ] belcheri ( Gray, 1849)

Belcher’s Sea Snake; Faint-banded Sea Snake

Aturia belcheri Gray, 1849:46 . Hydrophis belcheri, Smith, 1926:52 .— McCarthy, 1993c:230.— David and Ineich, 1999:105.—

Ferner, Brown, Sison, and Kennedy, 2001:54 [21].— Rasmussen et al., 2011:5.— Leviton,

Brown, and Siler, 2014:503. Chitulia belcheri, Wallach, Williams, and Boundy, 2014:163 .

TYPE LOCALITY AND TYPE SPECIMEN (S).— New Guinea. Holotype: BMNH 1946.1 .1.97 (formerly BMNH III.3.2.a; fide Smith [1926:53]).

PHILIPPINE DISTRIBUTION ( Map 17A [p. 128]).— Philippines, unknown, although Alcala (1986a:166) states that it “has been recorded from the central Philippine sea.”; see also comment by Ferner et al. (2001:54 [21]), who cite Alcala (1986). Otherwise, it has been reported from the coastal waters off of Vietnam in the South China Sea ( Rasmussen et al. [2011:5]).

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION (OTHER THAN PHILIPPINES).— Gulf of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and New Guinea. (N.B.: David and Ineich [1999:105], citing earlier discussions by McDowell [1972:217] and McCarthy and Warrell [1991:162–163], refer the Australasian records to Hydrophis pacificus , but see also Kharin [2005:161], whose observations heighten the confusion regarding the identification of samples of populations supposedly belonging to H. belcheri . See also comments by Rasmussen [2001] relating to H. coggeri .)

CONSERVATION STATUS [IUCN].— Data Deficient [2016] ver. 3.1.