Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 276

Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842) — Erroneous.

Ornate Reef Sea Snake

Singapore records.

Hydrophis ornatus —Sworder, 1923: 68.—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 148.—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 105.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 148.— Das, 2010: 321.— Das, 2012a: 96.— Das, 2018: 114.

Hydrophis ornatus ornatus — Iskandar & Colijn, 2001: 136.

Chitulia ornata —Chan-ard et al., 2015: 278.

Remarks. Sworder (1923) included H. ornatus in his checklist of Singapore’s snakes because of its wide distribution from the Persian Gulf to Solomon Islands, but no records exist for it from Singapore nor for Peninsular Malaysia. Subsequent publications likely refer to Sworder (1923). Voris and Jeffries collected three specimens during their sea snake research in Singapore, but the three specimens were brought to the Kangkar Fish Market with one being from the South China Sea and the other two having no specific locality recorded, and have been excluded (refer to “A note on sea snakes in Singapore ” above). Additional specimens at LKCNHM were taken from the South China Sea and Horsburgh Lighthouse on Pedra Branca (which have been excluded; refer to “A note on sea snakes in Singapore ” above).

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. No specimens.

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.