NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Sahul Reef Snake
Aipysurus apraefrontalis Smith, 1926
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 apraefrontalis, commonly known as the short-nosed sea snake or Sahul reef snake, is a species of venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae, which occurs on reefs off the northern coast of Western Australia. English herpetologist Malcolm Arthur Smith described the species in 1926 from a specimen collected on the Ashmore Reef.
Wikipedia contributors, Aipysurus apraefrontalis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:07:54.418912+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Aipysurus apraefrontalis Smith, 1926
- Name authority
- Smith, 1926
- Common name
- Sahul Reef Snake
- 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 apraefrontalis Smith, 1926
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 |
| Reef shallows seasnakeAipysurus duboisii Bavay, 1869 | ElapidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Leaf-scaled SeasnakeAipysurus foliosquama 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 |
|---|---|
| Smithsohydrophis apraefrontalis | 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=apraefrontalis 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:666RH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.