Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803

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 cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 / Hydrophis pacificus Boulenger, 1896 .

Boulenger described Hydrophis pacificus based on a single specimen from “ New Britain ” in Papua New Guinea. Wall (1909) later synonymised it with H. cyanocinctus . Smith (1926) disagreed with both Boulenger and Wall and synonymised the type specimen of H. pacificus with H. belcheri . In 1972, McDowell reviewed the Hydrophis group and included the H. pacificus type in H. elegans . Three years later Cogger (1975) resurrected the type of H. pacificus and referred 13 specimens from Northern Australia to this species (ARR examined 6 of the mentioned specimens: AMS 44983, 45092 and AMNH 142394–97). Today , most authorities recognise H. pacificus as occurring in the Australian region . However , both external and internal morphological characters (ARR observation) and molecular data show the Australian population of ‘ H. pacificus ’ belongs to the same species as the eastern Asian specimens of H. cyanocinctus ( Sanders , Rasmussen , et al., 2013). However, as long as the taxonomic status of the Asian specimens of H. cyanocinctus remains unclear we suggest following Cogger (1975) and using the name H. pacificus until this complex has been investigated more thoroughly.