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Hydrophis neglectus Wall, 1906 synonym of Hydrophis stricticollis Günther, 1864 (Table 1; Fig. 9) Material Examined. ZSI 8598 Holotype from Rangoon (Yangon, Southern Myanmar) Description. Head small, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal slightly elongated, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Seven Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; Infralabial in fragile condition; Chin shield and Scales around neck and midbody in fragile condition; Ventral and Preanal in fragile condition; Number of bands not discernable; Head width 3.9 mm; Head depth 4.1 mm; Head length 11.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 334.0 mm; Tail length 50.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Number of bands not discernable due to faded colouration. Remarks. Specimen is in fragile condition, hence some of the measurements could not be taken. Wall (1906) stated its scale counts to be scale rows 48:54:45 and ventrals> 420, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be a young female, with scale rows 41:55 and ventrals 420. Hydrophis neglectus Wall, 1906 was recognized as valid by Wall (1909), but Smith (1926, 1943) treated it as a synonym of H. stricticollis. Wall (1909) whilst recognizing H. neglectus, remarked that it has characters common with H. caerulescens, H. ocellata and H. fasciatus. Wall also alluded to specimens referred to by Sclater (1891) as H. obscurus, by listing Sclater’s entry as a chresonym of H. neglectus. The nominal taxon H. neglectus was unfortunately missed out from the synonymy of H. stricticollis or of any other species by Uetz et al. (2022). However, many treatises both historical (Smith, 1926, 1943) and recent (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019) have correctly listed H. neglectus as a synonym of H. stricticollis., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 315, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Gunther, A. C. L. G. (1864) The Reptiles of British India. Ray Society, London, xxvii + 452 pp., 28 pls. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 5012","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Uetz, P., Hallermann, J. & Hosek, J. (2022) The EMBL Reptile Database. Available from: https: // reptile-database. reptarium. cz / (accessed online in March 2022)","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150"]}

Hydrophis dayanus Stoliczka, 1872 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 5) Material Examined. ZSI 8278 Holotype from Karachi (in Sindh, Southern Pakistan). Description. Head robust, short, head shield large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal small, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal shorter than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporals 1+2; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Preocular on each sides of head; Two Postoculars on each sides of head; Eight Supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching the prefrontal; 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th touching the eye; 6 th broken; Eight infralabials on right and nine on left side of head; 3 infralabials touching the chin shield, small cuneate scales present; Chinshield well developed; both the pair not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 33; Scales around Midbody 40; Ventrals 327, very small but distinct from adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal small; Two white dots present on prefrontal, Head width 7.2 mm; Head depth 7.4 mm; Head length 14.9 mm; Snout to Vent length 550.0 mm; Tail length 54.0 mm. Head dark brown dorsally and ventrally with a weak light brown dots present on prefrontal, two lateral light brown C-shaped marks extending from eye to temporals. Entire body light brown, encircled by dark brown bands; interspaces light brown, broad dorsally and on flank, disappearing ventrally. All ventral scales light brown. Tail with dark brown bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands 57 around body till vent; Seven bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated its scale counts to be scale rows 33:39:40 and ventrals as 342, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be a young male, with scale rows 33:43 and ventrals 343. Sclater (1891) listed H. dayanus in the synonymy of H. lapemoides (Gray, 1849) and this was also followed by Boulenger (1896). But Wall (1906) synonymized H. dayanus with H. cyanocinctus where it now rests (see Wall 1909; Smith 1926; Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019). Hydrophis lapemoides is a species originally described based on two specimens, a juvenile from Madras and a subadult from Sri Lanka (Stoliczka 1872). Rasmussen (1993) while redescribing this species illustrated and redescribed the type specimens of H. lapemoides. Wallach et al. (2014) designated BMNH 1946.1.7.2 the subadult specimen from Sri Lanka as the lectotype and thus BMNH 1946.1.6.91 the juvenile from Madras became a paralectotype. Because the type of H. dayanus is also a subadult, this probable confusion of H. dayanus being conspecific with H. lapemoides (see Sclater 1891; Boulenger 1896) had risen (see Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019). Hydrophis cyanocinctus young ones and subadults to certain extent, have much thicker and bolder bands, compared to the usual adult pattern in that species (Smith 1926, 1943; SRG pers. obs.). Rasmussen (1993) did not list H. dayanus in the synonymy of H. lapemoides. The unsettled opinions were also stated by Das et al. (1998). However, Das et al. (1998) reported ZSI 8278 as holotype and still remarked that another syntype is in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW), Wienna, Austria. Stoliczka’s (1872) description clearly mentions two specimens (one 23 inches and the larger one 27 inches), and hence ZSI 8278 is a syntype, not holotype as reported by Das et al. (1998). Our perusal suggests that the 604 mm long specimen is the 23 inch long (total length) one dealt with by Stoliczka (1872). Similarly, Das et al. (1998) stated ZSI 8266 as a syntype that goes well with Smith’s (1926) remark of the same specimen as being one of the types of H. trachyceps., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 309, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Stoliczka, F. (1872) Notes on reptiles, collected by Surgeon F. Day in Sind. Proceedings of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1872, 85 - 92.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150","Rasmussen, A. R. (1993) The status of the Persian Gulf sea snake Hydrophis lapemoides (Serpentes, Hydrophiidae). Bulletin of the British Museum Natural History, 59, 97 - 104.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172."]}

Hydrophis crassicollis Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 2) Material Examined. ZSI 8272 Holotype from Hughli, below Calcutta. Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shields in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal as long as the distance from the tip of the rostral; Length of Frontal scale-7.0 mm; distance from the tip of the rostral- 7.0 mm; Parietal longer than wide; Two Anterior Temporals; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Preocular on each side of head; Two Postoculars on each side of head; Eight Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; 5 th broken; Eight Infralabials on right and nine on left side of head, cuneate scales present, 3 infralabials touching the chin shields; Chin shield well developed; both the pairs not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 34; Scales around Midbody 39; Ventrals 327, distinct from the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal enlarged; No keel present on dorsal scales. Head width 15.1 mm; Head depth 13.7 mm; Head length 29.7 mm; Snout to Vent length 1340.0 mm; Tail length 113.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body light brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, broader dorsally, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 62 around the body till vent; Five dark brown bands on tail. Remarks. This specimen and nominal taxon was curiously absent in the works of both Wall (1906) and Smith (1926). It was however mentioned as present in the ZSI collection by Das et al. (1998). Boulenger (1890) did not list H. crassicollis as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus. Sclater (1891) listed H. crassicollis [as crassicollas] under the synonymy of H. cyanocinctus and this arrangement was followed by (Boulenger 1896; Wall 1906, 1907; Smith 1926)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls."]}

Hydrophis fayrerianus Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis curtus (Shaw, 1802) (Table 1; Fig. 3) Material Examined. ZSI 8270 Holotype from Puri, Odisha (Eastern India). Description. Head short, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal broken; Two large anterior temporals; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Eight Supralabial on each side of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 4 th touching the eye on left side of head, 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye on right side of head, 5 th broken; Ten infralabials on each side of head; 3 infralabials touching the chin shield; Chin shield well developed; both the pairs in contact with each other; Anterior Pair 4.9 mm, Posterior Pair 6.5 mm; Scales around neck 29-31; Scales around Midbody 35; Ventral 195, distinct, twice the size of the adjacent dorsal scales anteriorly, posteriorly divided with a suture; Preanal small; Dorsal scales with a faint single keel; Ventrals with spiked keels; Head width 21.1 mm; Head depth 18.3 mm; Head length 38.7 mm; Snout to Vent length 900.0 mm; Tail length 105.0 mm. Dorsally brownish grey with dark gray bands across the body till lateral / sides, band does not extend till belly and ventrally the entire body creamish yellow. Number of bands 57 around body till vent; One band present at the base of the tail; remaining part black. Remarks. The original description [incorrectly as H. fayreriana] stated the scale rows to be 35, ventral count to be 193 and body bands to be 39 (Anderson 1971). Following Boulenger (1890), Sclater (1891) listed the specimen, as the type of H. fayrerianus under the synonymy of H. hardwickii (Gray, 1834). This was also followed by Boulenger (1896) and Wall (1906, 1909). However, Smith (1926, 1943) did not make any mention (also see Das et al. 1998) of either the specimen ZSI 8270 or of the nominal taxon Hydrophis fayrerianus in his species accounts of both H. curtus (Shaw, 1802) and H. hardwickii (Gray, 1834), which was treated as valid then. As is known, currently, only one species H. curtus is recognized, with H. hardwickii being treated as its subjective junior synonym (see Wallach et al. 2014; Boundy 2020). This specimen was included in the catalogue of available types by Das et al. (1998)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 306, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Shaw, G. (1802) General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. III. Part II. Amphibia. G. Kearsley, London, viii + pp. 313 - 615, pls. 87 - 140.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Boundy, J. (2020) Snakes of the World: a supplement. CRC Press, USA, 273 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / 9780429461354"]}

Hydrophis trachyceps Theobald, 1868 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 1) Material Examined. ZSI 8266 Syntype from Mergui (Beik, Southern Myanmar). Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Seven Supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye on the left, 3 rd, 4 th and 5 th touching the eye on the right; 5 th broken; Infralabial 9; 3 infralabials touching chin shield; Chin shield well developed, both the pairs in contact with each other; Anterior Pair 2.5 mm, Posterior Pair 2.5 mm; Scales around neck and midbody, Ventrals and Preanals could not be counted with confidence, as they are in fragile condition due to suboptimal preservation; Head width 9.1 mm; Head depth 11.2 mm; Head length 19.1 mm; Snout to Vent length 860.0 mm; Tail length 78.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 56 around body till vent; Three bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) did not feature this specimen or the nominal taxon either as valid or as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus. Smith (1926) stated it to be a subadult female, with scale rows 31:43 and ventrals “?”. This was so due to the suboptimal preservation of the specimen. Since this was the case even in Smith’s days, we too were unable to score any more characters than those presented. Sclater (1891) listed H. trachyceps under the synonymy of H. cyanocinctus, whereas Boulenger (1890) did not. Also, Sclater (1891) listed two specimens “ZSI 8266-7” as the types of H. trachyceps. Das et al. (1998) clarified that this second syntype ZSI 8267 was not present in the ZSI and that it was not received back from Boden Kloss, probably its collector / their associate in Myanmar or a naturalist who had earlier taken a study loan of that specimen. Boulenger (1896) treated H. trachyceps as a synonym of H. cyanocinctus., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 302, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Theobald, W. (1868) Catalogue of Reptiles in the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. 32). Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, Bengal, 88 pp.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls."]}

Hydrophis tuberculatus Anderson, 1871 synonym of Hydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803 (Table 1; Fig. 4) Material Examined. ZSI 8271 Holotype from Calcutta (in West Bengal Eastern India). Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal short, squarish, 2 nd supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal shorter than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporal 2; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Preocular on each sides of the head; Two Postoculars on each sides of the head; Seven Supralabials on each sides of the head; 2 nd touching prefrontal; 4 th and 5 th touching the eye, 4 th & 6 th broken; Nine Infralabials on right and eight on left side of the head; 3 infralabials touching chin shield; cuneate scales present; Chin shields well developed, both the pair in contact with each other Anterior Pair— 3.1 mm, Posterior Pair 3.7 mm; Scales around neck 31; Scales around Midbody 40; Ventrals 315, distinct from the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal enlarged; Dorsal scales has a single keel. Head width 13.4 mm; Head depth 9.8 mm; Head length 26.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 1000.0 mm; Tail length 95.0 mm. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body light brown. Body encircled with dark brown bands, broader dorsally, disappearing ventrally. Number of bands 60 around the body till vent; Five dark brown bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated the scale counts to be 32:40:39 and ventrals as 332, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be an unsexed young one with scale rows 31:42 and ventrals 310. Anderson (1871) originally named this species as Hydrophis tuberculata, with a feminine ending of specific epithet, whereas it must be masculine, as H. tuberculatus (see Uetz et al. 2022; this work). Sclater (1891) treated it as a valid species that he listed as Distira tuberculata. This was followed by Boulenger (1890, 1896). Wall (1906) synonymized H. tuberculatus under H. cyanocintus and this was subsequently followed (Wall 1909; Smith 1926, 1943)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 309, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Daudin, F. M. (1803) [An XI]. Histoire Naturelle, Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite aux Oeuvres de Leclerc de Buffon, et Partie du Cours Complet d'Histoire Naturelle Redige par C. S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs societes savantes. Tome sixieme. F. Dufart, Paris, 447 pp., pls. LXXI - LXXX. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 60678","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Uetz, P., Hallermann, J. & Hosek, J. (2022) The EMBL Reptile Database. Available from: https: // reptile-database. reptarium. cz / (accessed online in March 2022)","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1890) The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor and Francis, London, xviii + 541 pp.","Boulenger, G. A. (1896) Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. III, Containing the Colubridae (Opisthoglyphae and Proteroglyphae), Amblycephalidae and Viperidae. British Museum (Natural History), London, xiv + 727 pp., 25 pls.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp."]}

Distira andamanica Annandale, 1905 synonym of Hydrophis ornatus (Gray, 1842) (Table 1; Fig. 6) Material Examined. ZSI 15238 Holotype, from Andamans (in the Bay of Bengal) India. Description. Head robust, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal squarish, 2 nd Supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One supraocular on each sides of head; One preocular on each sides of head; Three postoculars on each sides of head; Seven supralabials on each sides of head; 2 nd touching prefrontal, 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye, 4th below the eye; 6 th broken; Nine infralabials on each sides of head; 4 th infralabial touching chin shield; on right 2 nd infralabial is small, do not touch the Anterior Chin shield; Chin shield well developed; Anterior Pair in contact with each other, Posterior Pair separated from each other; Anterior Pair 4.7 mm, Posterior Pair 4.6 mm; Scales around neck 33: Scales around Midbody 38; Ventral 235, distinct, twice the size of the adjacent dorsal scales; Preanal Slightly enlarged; Dorsal scales with a single keel. Head width 13.6 mm; Head depth 11.7 mm; Head length 29.8 mm; Snout to Vent length 755.0 mm; Tail length 93.0 mm. Head dark dorsally, supralabials and venter of a lighter shade as of the dorsal colour. Body encircled by black bands, interspace white, broad dorsally and on flanks, disintegrating and eventually disappearing ventrally. All ventral scales white. Tail with black bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands around the body till vent 35; Seven bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) stated it to have scale rows 33:39:35 and ventrals 245, while Smith (1926) stated it to be an adult male, with scale rows 31:40 and ventrals 236. Wall (1909) synonymised Distira andamanica Wall, 1906 with H. ornatus (Gray, 1842) and this was followed by Smith (1926, 1943) and recent authors (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019)., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 310, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Annandale, N. (1905) Additions to the collection of Oriental snakes in the Indian Museum, Part 2. Specimens from the Andamans and Nicobars. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Natural History), Calcutta (Series 2), 1 (7), 173 - 176.","Gray, J. E. (1842) Monographic Synopsis of the Water Snakes, or the Family of Hydridae. Zoological Miscellany, 2, 59 - 68.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150"]}

Hydrophis melanocinctus Wall, 1906 synonym of Hydrophis spiralis (Shaw, 1802) (Table 1; Fig. 8) Material Examined. ZSI 14470 Holotype from Puri, Odisha (Eastern India). Description. Head small, head shields large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal superior in position, nasal shield in contact with each other; Prefrontal elongate, 2 nd Supralabial touching prefrontal; Frontal longer than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; One large anterior temporal; One Supraocular on each side of head; One Pre- and Postocular on each side of head; Supralabials 7; 3 rd and 4 th touching eye; Seven infralabials on each side of head; Chin shield and Scales around neck in fragile condition; Scales around midbody 40; Ventral, Preanal and Head width, depth and length not measurable as the specimen is in fragile condition; Snout to Vent length 228.0 mm;. Dorsally and ventrally the entire body brown. Number of bands not discernable due to faded colouration. Remarks. Specimen is in fragile condition and hence some of the measurements (e.g. tail length) could not be taken. Wall (1906) stated the counts to be scale rows 25:39:39 and ventrals 380, whereas Smith (1926) stated it to be an unsexed young one, with scale rows 25:44 and ventrals “366(?)” indicating his uncertainty over the count. Wall (1909) synonymized H. melanocinctus under H. fasciatus, but Smith (1926, 1943) treated it as a synonym of H. spiralis, where it now rests (Wallach et al. 2014; Ganesh et al. 2019; Boundy 2020). See comments under H. alcocki entry, for mix-up of the registration number with the type of H. melanocinctus., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 315, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Shaw, G. (1802) General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol. III. Part II. Amphibia. G. Kearsley, London, viii + pp. 313 - 615, pls. 87 - 140.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Wall, F. (1909) A monograph of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae). Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 2 (8), 169 - 251. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 11961","Smith, M. A. (1943) The Fauna of British India, Ceylon and Burma, Including the Whole of the Indo-Chinese Sub-Region. Reptilia and Amphibia. 3 (Serpentes). Taylor and Francis, London, 583 pp.","Wallach, V., Williams, K. L. & Boundy, J. (2014) Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, USA, 1237 pp.","Ganesh, S. R., Nandhini, T., Samuel, V. D., Sreeraj, C. R., Abhilash, K. R., Purvaja, R. & Ramesh, R. (2019) Marine snakes of Indian coasts: historical resume, systematic checklist, toxinology, status, and identification key. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 11 (1), 13132 - 13150. https: // doi. org / 10.11609 / jott. 3981.11.1.13132 - 13150","Boundy, J. (2020) Snakes of the World: a supplement. CRC Press, USA, 273 pp. https: // doi. org / 10.1201 / 9780429461354"]}

Platurus affinis Anderson, 1871 synonym of Laticauda laticaudata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Table 1; Fig. 10) Material Examined. ZSI 8289 Holotype from Fallahs Mullah, Calcutta (sic from Tolly’s Nullah, Southern Calcutta, West Bengal, Eastern India fide Das et al. 1998). Description. Head robust, head shield large, regular; Rostral broader than high; Nasal on lateral side separated by a pair of internasal; Prefrontal large, squarish; Frontal larger than the distance from the tip of the rostral; Parietal longer than wide; Temporals 1+2; One Supraocular on each sides of head; One Preocular on each sides of head; Two Postoculars on each sides of head, lower postocular much larger than upper postocular; Eight supralabials on each sides of head; 3 rd and 4 th touching the eye; 1 st very small; Seven Infralabials on each side of head; 4 infralabials touching the chin shield, 1 st and 2 nd infralabials small; Chinshield well developed; both the pair not in contact with each other; Scales around neck 19; Scales around Midbody 19; Ventrals 229, large; Subcaudals 34; Preanal large, divided; Anal large, divided; Head width 14.6 mm; Head depth 15.9 mm; Head length 30.4 mm; Snout to Vent length 1145.0 mm; Tail length 111.0 mm; Gravid female with 7 eggs. Head brown dorsally and ventrally. The entire body light black dorsally, light brown ventrally. Body encircled by dark brown bands, interspaces grey, broad dorsally extending till ventrals. All ventral scales light brown. Tail with dark brown bands both dorsally and ventrally. Number of bands 56 around the body till vent; Five bands on tail. Remarks. Wall (1906) implicitly mentioned this specimen, but not in any detail. Smith (1926) stated it to be an adult female, with scale rows 19, ventrals 238 and subcaudals 35. Sclater (1891) listed ZSI 8289 from Tolly’s Nullah under the species account of “ Platurus laticaudatus ”, i.e. currently Laticauda laticaudata, though he did not explicitly remark on the type status of the specimen mentioned., Published as part of Mondal, Sonia, Ganesh, S. R., Sethy, P. G. S., Raghunathan, C., Raha, Sujoy & Sarkar, Sagnik, 2022, Redescriptions of the type specimens of synonymous nominal taxa of sea snakes (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophis, Laticauda) at the Zoological Survey of India, pp. 301-321 in Zootaxa 5169 (4) on page 319, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5169.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/6952413, {"references":["Anderson, J. (1871) A List of the Reptilian Accession to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, from 1865 to 1870, with a description of some new species. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 40 (2), 12 - 44.","Linnaeus, C. (1758) Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Edito Decima. Tomus I. Laurenti Salvi [Lars Salvius], Holmiae [Stockholm]. [4], 823, [1] pp. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 542","Das, I., Dattagupta, B. & Gayen, N. C. (1998) History and catalogue of reptile types in the collection of the Zoological Survey of India. Journal of South Asian Natural History, 3 (2), 121 - 172.","Wall, F. (1906) A descriptive list of the sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1 (14), 277 - 299.","Smith, M. A. (1926) Monograph on the Sea Snakes. (Hydrophiidae). British Museum, London, xvii + 130 pp.","Sclater, W. L. (1891) List of Snakes in the Indian Museum. Printed by the order of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 79 pp."]}