Стокс теңіз жыланының сипаттамасы

Species of snake

Stokes's sea snake (Hydrophis stokesii) is a large species of sea snake in the family Elapidae. It is sometimes placed in its own genus Astrotia. The species is endemic to tropical Indo Pacific oceanic waters.

Both the specific name, stokesii, and the common name, Stokes' seasnake, are in honor of Royal Navy Admiral John Lort Stokes.

Stokes's sea snake is one of the heaviest and stoutest seasnakes, with the longest fangs of any marine snake. Its fangs are long enough to pierce a wetsuit. Its mid ventral scales are enlarged to form a distinct keel on its belly, the keel frequently broken up into two wart like tubercles. A. stokesii is highly variable in colour, ranging from cream to brown to black, often with broad black dorsal cross bands, or black rings. Total length 5 feet (2 m).

It is distributed from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to the South China Sea and Strait of Taiwan. It also lives in all waters of tropical Australia.

There are no reported human fatalities attributed to Stokes's sea snake.

It was first described and named as Hydrus stokesii by John Edward Gray in Appendix 3 to Volume 1 of John Lort Stokes' 1846 Discoveries in Australia. In 1972, McDowell resurrected the genus Disteira and merged Astrotia into it, although stokesii lacks the Oxyuranus pattern of venom gland muscle which typifies Disteira, and differs from others in that genus by number of body vertebrae and heart position. Cogger later refused to recognize the placement of stokesii into Disteira.