Simoselaps, or Australian coral snakes, is a genus composed of 12 species of venomous elapid snakes.
Geographic range Species of the genus Simoselaps are found throughout Australia.
Description Australian coral snakes are small snakes. They have smooth and polished scales, shovel-shaped snouts, and are brightly marked with bands or annuli.
Habitat and behavior Species of Simoselaps are found mainly in arid regions. They are burrowing snakes which move beneath the surface through loose sand or soil. At night they come to the surface to feed on small lizards and reptile eggs.
Reproduction All species of Australian coral snakes are oviparous and lay clutches of three to five eggs.
Species SpeciesAuthoritySubsp.Common nameGeographic rangeS. anomalus(Sternfeld, 1919)Nonenorthern desert banded snakeAustralia (Northern Territory, South and Western Australia)S. approximans(Glauert, 1954)Nonenorth-western shovel-nosed snakeWestern AustraliaS. australis(Krefft, 1864)NoneAustralian coral snakeSouth Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and VictoriaS. bertholdi(Jan, 1864)Nonedesert banded snake AustraliaS. calonotus(A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)Noneblack-striped burrowing snakeWestern AustraliaS. fasciolatus(Günther, 1872)2narrow-banded shovel-nosed snakeSouth and Western Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory and QueenslandS. incinctus(Storr, 1968)Noneunbanded shovel-nosed snakeAustralia: Northern Territory and QueenslandS. littoralis(Storr, 1968)Nonewest-coast banded snakeWestern AustraliaS. minimus(Worrell, 1960)NoneDampierland burrowing snake Western AustraliaS. morrisiHorner, 1998NoneArnhem shovel-nosed snakeBeolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Simoselaps morrisi, p. 183). Australia:Northern TerritoryS. roperi(Kinghorn, 1931)Nonenorthern shovel-nosed snake Western Australia, Kimberley Region and Northern TerritoryS. semifasciatus(Günther, 1863)3southern shovel-nosed snake, half-girdled snakeWestern Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland
Several of the above species are sometimes placed in the genera Brachyurophis or Neelaps.
References
Further reading Cogger HG (2000). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Sixth Edition. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Publishing. 808 pp. Horner P (1998). "Simoselaps morrisi sp. nov. (Elapidae), a new species of snake of the Northern Territory". The Beagle 14: 63–70. Jan [G] (1859). "Plan d'une Iconographie descriptive des Ophidiens et Description sommaire de nouvelles espèces de Serpents ". Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Apliquée, Paris, Series 2, 11: 122–130. (Simoselaps, new subgenus, p. 123). (in French). Storr GM (1978). "Taxonomic notes on the reptiles of the Shark Bay region, Western Australia". Records of the Western Australian Museum 6 (3): 303–318.
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