NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Reef shallows seasnake
Aipysurus duboisii Bavay, 1869
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
Aipysurus duboisii, also known commonly as Dubois' sea snake and the reef shallows sea snake, is a species of extremely venomous snake in the subfamily Hydrophiinae of the family Elapidae. Its geographic range includes Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, and the northern, eastern, and western coastal areas of Australia, that is the Coral Sea, Arafura Sea, Timor Sea, and Indian Ocean. It lives to depths of 80 m (262 ft) in coral reef flats, sandy and silty sediments, which contain seaweed, invertebrates and corals or sponges that can serve as shelter. It preys upon moray eels and various fish that live on the seafloor, up to 110 cm (3.6 ft) in size. A. duboisii is viviparous, giving birth to live young rather than laying eggs. It displays medium aggressiveness, i.e., will bite if provoked, but not spontaneously. The fangs are 1.8 mm long, which are relatively short for a snake, and the venom yield is 0.43 mg. Aipysurus duboisii is a crepuscular species, meaning that it is most active at dawn and dusk.
Wikipedia contributors, Aipysurus duboisii; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:09:32.417138+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aipysurus duboisii Bavay, 1869
- Name authority
- Bavay, 1869
- Common name
- Reef shallows seasnake
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Elapidae
- Genus
- Aipysurus
- 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
- genusAipysurus
- speciesAipysurus duboisii Bavay, 1869
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Aipysurus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Beaded sea-snakeAipysurus eydouxii (Gray, 1849) | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Olive-brown seasnakeAipysurus laevis Lacépède, 1804 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arafura Sea SnakeAipysurus tenuis Lönnberg & Andersson, 1913 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leaf-scaled SeasnakeAipysurus foliosquama Smith, 1926 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Sahul Reef SnakeAipysurus apraefrontalis Smith, 1926 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Aipysurus mosaicus Sanders, Rasmussen, Elmberg, Mumpuni, Guinea, Blias, Lee & Fry, 2012 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dusky SeasnakeAipysurus fuscus (Tschudi, 1837) | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Shark Bay SeasnakeAipysurus pooleorum Smith, 1974 | 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 |
|---|---|
| Aipysurus australis Sauvage, 1877 Sauvage, 1877 | synonym |
| Pelagophis lubricus Peters & Doria, 1878 Peters & Doria, 1878 | 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=Aipysurus&species=duboisii 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:65V4P. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.