Aipysurus foliosquama
| Leaf-scaled sea snake | |
|---|---|
_from_Barrow_Island.jpg) | |
| Museum specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Genus: | Aipysurus |
| Species: | A. foliosquama |
| Binomial name | |
| Aipysurus foliosquama Smith, 1926 | |
 | |
Aipysurus foliosquama, also known as the leaf-scaled sea snake, is a critically endangered species of venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae. It is endemic to the Ashmore and Cartier Islands of Australia.[1]
The leaf-scaled sea snake prefers waters up to 10 metres in depth.[2] In December 2015 a population of the snakes was found living in seagrass beds of Shark Bay off Western Australia.[3] Previously, its only known habitats were some 1,700 km away in the Ashmore and Hibernia Reefs in the Timor Sea,[1] from where it had since disappeared.[4]
References
- 1 2 Lukoschek, V. & Guinea, M. 2010. Aipysurus foliosquama. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. Downloaded on 18 July 2014.
- ↑ http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1118
- ↑ "Scientists discover rare sea snakes, previously thought extinct, off Western Australia". phys.org. December 21, 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ↑ D'Anastasi, B.R.; van Herwerden, L.; Hobbs, J.A.; Simpfendorfer, C.A.; Lukoschek, V. (2016), "New range and habitat records for threatened Australian sea snakes raise challenges for conservation", Biological Conservation, 194: 66–70, doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2015.11.032
External links
Media related to Aipysurus foliosquama at Wikimedia Commons
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