Kimberley death adder

The Kimberley death adder (Acanthophis cryptamydros) is a species of venomous snake in the family Elapidae native to northwestern Australia.[3]

Kimberley death adder
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Elapidae
Genus: Acanthophis
Species:
A. cryptamydros
Binomial name
Acanthophis cryptamydros
Maddock, Ellis, Doughty, Smith & Wüster, 2015
Synonyms[2]

Acanthophis lancasteri Wells & Wellington, 1985

Richard Wells and Ross Wellington gave the Kimberley death adder its scientific name Acanthophis lancasteri—in honour of Burt Lancaster—in a 1985 monograph, citing as the type specimen an adult collected 45 kilometres (28 mi) north-northeast of Halls Creek in Western Australia.[4] They cited a 1981 paper by Glen Milton Storr, who had written about death adders of Western Australia.[4] Storr considered both Kimberley and Cape York populations as northern death adder (A. praelongus),[5] and Wells and Wellington noted the description was restricted to the Kimberley population and renamed it as a new species.[4] The monograph was criticised for new species having no or minimal descriptions.[6] Ken P. Aplin and Steve C. Donnellan called the name a nomen nudum as neither Wells and Wellington's nor Storr's notes distinguished the new taxon from the northern death adder.[7]

Simon Maddock and colleagues analysed the Kimberley death adder genetically and found that it was a distinct lineage, more closely related to the desert death adder (A. pyrrhus), and named it Acanthophis cryptamydros in 2015, as they proposed that A. lancasteri was a nomen nudum.[8][9] Wellington countered that their 1985 name was in fact valid.[10]

Australian official sources recognise lancasteri,[3] whereas Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) recognises cryptamydros as the valid name.[2]

The Kimberley death adder is a stocky snake with a pear-shaped head that reaches 64.5 cm (25.5 in) in length. It is a light orange-brown on its back and sides, with darker brown cross-bands, each of which has darker margins. It has distinctive creamy white underparts. It can be distinguished from other Australian death adders by the numbers of scales: 22 or 23 rows of midbody scales, 125–139 ventrals, undivided prefrontal scales, and the rear edge of its frontal scale not extending beyond rear edge of supraoculars, supraoculars flared laterally, area of lower secondary temporal scale equal to or smaller than sixth supralabial, anterior dorsal scales with prominent keels.[8]

It is found from Wotjulum to Kununurra in northwestern Australia.[8]

References
  1. Cogger, H., Ellis, R., Zichy-Woinarski, J., Oliver, P. & Shea, G. 2017. Acanthophis cryptamydros. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T102703587A102703605. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T102703587A102703605.en. Downloaded on 18 September 2018.
  2. "Acanthophis cryptamydros". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  3. Australian Biological Resources Study (1 September 2015). "Species Acanthophis lancasteri Wells & Wellington, 1985". Australian Faunal Directory. Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Government. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  4. Wells, Richard W.; Wellington, C.Ross (1985). "A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia" (PDF). Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplemental Series. 1: 1–61 [43–44]. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  5. Storr, G. M. (1981). "The genus Acanthophis (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 9 (2): 203–10.
  6. Williams, David; Wüster, Wolfgang; Fry, Bryan Grieg (2006). "The good, the bad and the ugly: Australian snake taxonomists and a history of the taxonomy of Australia's venomous snakes". Toxicon. 48 (7): 919–30. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.07.016. PMID 16999982.
  7. Aplin, Ken P.; Donnellan, Steve C. (1999). "An extended description of the Pilbara Death Adder, Acanthophis wellsi Hoser (Serpentes: Elapidae), with notes on the Desert Death Adder, A. pyrrhus Boulenger, and identification of a possible hybrid zone". Records of the Western Australian Museum. 19: 277–98.
  8. Maddock, S.T.; Ellis, R.J.; Doughty, P.; Smith, L.A.; Wüster, W (2015). "A new species of death adder (Acanthophis: Serpentes: Elapidae) from north-western Australia". Zootaxa. 4007 (3): 301–26 [308]. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4007.3.1. PMID 26623813.
  9. Ellis, Ryan J.; Kaiser, Hinrich; Maddock, Simon T.; Doughty, Paul; Wüster, Wolfgang (29 June 2021). "An evaluation of the nomina for death adders (Acanthophis Daudin, 1803) proposed by Wells & Wellington (1985), and confirmation of A. cryptamydros Maddock et al., 2015 as the valid name for the Kimberley death adder". Zootaxa. 4995 (1): 161–172. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4995.1.9. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 34186811. S2CID 235688874.
  10. Wellington, C. Ross (2016). "Acanthophis cryptamydros Maddock, Ellis, Doughty, Smith & Wüster, 2015 is an invalid junior synonym of Acanthophis lancasteri Wells & Wellington, 1985 (Squamata, Elapidae)". Bionomina. 10: 74–75. doi:10.11646/bionomina.10.1.5.
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