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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Stoke’s seasnake

Hydrophis stokesii (Gray, 1846)

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.

Open encyclopedia reference

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.

Wikipedia contributors, Stokes's sea snake; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:58:31.106100+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Hydrophis stokesii (Gray, 1846)
Name authority
(Gray, 1846)
Common name
Stoke’s seasnake
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Reptilia
Order
Squamata
Family
Elapidae
Genus
Hydrophis
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.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
  9. orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
  10. suborderSerpentes Linnaeus, 1758
  11. infraorderAlethinophidia Nopcsa, 1923
  12. familyElapidae
  13. subfamilyHydrophiinae
  14. genusHydrophis
  15. speciesHydrophis stokesii (Gray, 1846)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Hydrophis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Peters' Sea SnakeHydrophis bituberculatus Peters, 1873ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Slender-necked SeasnakeHydrophis coggeri (Kharin, 1984)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Annulated Sea SnakeHydrophis cyanocinctus Daudin, 1803ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Elegant or bar-bellied seasnakeHydrophis elegans (Gray, 1842)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Hydrophis hendersoni (Boulenger, 1903)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Inornate Sea SnakeHydrophis inornatus (Gray, 1849)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Pacific seasnakeHydrophis pacificus Boulenger, 1896ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Spiny-headed seasnakeHydrophis peronii (Duméril, 1853)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Pelagic Sea SnakeHydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766)ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lake Taal SnakeHydrophis semperi Garman, 1881ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Kloss' Sea SnakeHydrophis klossi Boulenger, 1912ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied
Lambert's Sea SnakeHydrophis lamberti Smith, 1917ElapidaeChordataAccepted speciesExtinction status not supplied

Browse 276 records assigned to Elapidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded nameSource status
Hydrophis guttata Murray, 1887 Murray, 1887synonym
Hydrus major Shaw, 1802 Shaw, 1802ambiguous synonym
Hydrophis granosa Anderson, 1871 Anderson, 1871synonym
Hydrophis schizopholis Schmidt, 1846 Schmidt, 1846synonym
Hydrus annulatus Gray, 1849 Gray, 1849synonym
Hydrus stokesii Gray, 1846 Gray, 1846synonym
Hydrophis guentheri Theobald, 1868 Theobald, 1868synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

China Sea and Strait of Taiwan. Coastal areas from W India (Kerala), and Sri Lanka Lanka west through Gulf of Siam, Thailand, to China Sea, W Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore,

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.

  1. https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Hydrophis&species=stokesii 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:3N8C5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.