NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-bellied Swamp Snake
Hemiaspis signata (Jan, 1859)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Black-bellied Swamp Snake (Hemiaspis signata)
Doug Beckers · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Hemiaspis signata (common names: black-bellied swamp snake and marsh snake) is a species of venomous elapid snake endemic to Australia, where it is found along the east coast.
Recognisable by two distinctive narrow white lines on the face, the colour can range from pale olive to black top with a dark grey to black belly. Adults can grow to 70 cm in length, but most specimens are smaller than this. Their diet consists mainly of skinks and frogs.
It was first described in 1859 by Giorgio Jan as Alecto signata.
Wikipedia contributors, Hemiaspis signata; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:18:59.666387+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hemiaspis signata (Jan, 1859)
- Name authority
- (Jan, 1859)
- Common name
- Black-bellied Swamp Snake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Elapidae
- Genus
- Hemiaspis
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
- infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
- familyElapidae
- subfamilyHydrophiinae
- genusHemiaspis
- speciesHemiaspis signata (Jan, 1859)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hemiaspis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Grey SnakeHemiaspis damelii (Günther, 1876) | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Denisonia signata Boulenger, 1896 Boulenger, 1896 | synonym |
| Alecto signata Jan, 1859 Jan, 1859 | synonym |
| Denisonia vagrans Garman, 1901 Garman, 1901 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hemiaspis&species=signata Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3KLH5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.