Paroplocephalus
Paroplocephalus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Family: | Elapidae |
Genus: | Paroplocephalus Keogh, Scott & Scanlon, 2000 |
Species: | P. atriceps
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Binomial name | |
Paroplocephalus atriceps (Storr, 1980)
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Synonyms | |
Paroplocephalus is a genus of venomous snake in the family Elapidae. The genus is monotypic, containing only the species Paroplocephalus atriceps, the Lake Cronin snake. The species is endemic to western Australia.
A poorly known species, its diet includes
A common name derives from the type locality, Lake Cronin, an inland body of water in Western Australia. It is endemic to the wheatbelt region, the few specimens being recorded at this locality and another 145 kilometres (90 miles) east at Peak Eleanora.
Taxonomy
Paroplocephalus atriceps is known from only five specimens, all collected from the vicinity of Lake Cronin.[4] Its taxonomic history is extremely confused. When first described by Glen Milton Storr in 1980, it was placed in the genus Brachyaspis, but only tentatively, because Storr recognised an urgent need for taxonomic revision of the Australian elapids.[5] By this time it had been realised that Brachyaspis was not an available genus name because it had previously been published as the name of a genus of trilobite; plus in fact another name, Echiopsis, had priority. However Storr regarded Echiopsis as a nomen oblitum, a disused name so archaic that it was not worth reinstating. He therefore persisted with Brachyaspis in the short term. In 1982 he transferred the genus into Notechis, but explicitly excluded B. atriceps from consideration because its affinities were then so uncertain.[6] The following year the species was included in the Zoological Catalogue of Australia under the name Echiopsis atriceps,[4] and the year after that Storr transferred it into Denisonia.[7] Storr's circumscription of Denisonia included several species that were traditionally placed in Suta, and in 1993 Philippe Golay took the logical next step and transferred all of these, including D. atriceps, into Suta.[4]
In 2000, a
References
- . Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ISBN 978-1-920694-74-6.
- ^ Cogger, Harold (1979). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia (Revised ed.). Sydney: Reed. p. 437.
- ^ .
- ^ Storr, G. M. (1980). "A new Brachyaspis (Serpentes: Elapidae) from Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 8 (3): 397–399.
- ^ Storr, G. M. (1982). "The genus Notechis (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 9 (4): 325–340.
- ^ Storr, G. M. (1984). "Revision of Denisonia suta (Serpentes: Elapidae) and the description of a new species closely related to it". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 11 (3): 249–257.
- ^ "Genus Paroplocephalus Keogh, Scott & Scanlon, 2000". Australian Faunal Directory. Australian Biological Resources Study. Retrieved 2011-04-24.
Bush, Brian (2017) "Additions to the description of Paroplocephalus atriceps (Serpentes: Elapidae) with a discussion on pupil shape in it and other Australian snakes." Zootaxa 4344 (2): 333-344. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4344.2.8