| Sea krait | |
|---|---|
| |
| Laticauda colubrina | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Elapidae |
| Subfamily: | Laticaudinae Cope, 1876 |
| Genus: | Laticauda Laurenti, 1768 |
| Type species | |
| Laticauda laticaudata (Linnaeus, 1758)
| |
| Species | |
|
Eight, see text | |
Sea kraits are a genus of venomous snakes (subfamily: Laticaudinae), Laticauda. They are semiaquatic, and retain the wide ventral scales typical of terrestrial snakes for moving on land, but also have paddle-shaped tails for swimming.[1] Unlike fully aquatic ovoviviparous sea snakes, sea kraits are oviparous and must come to land to digest prey and lay eggs.[2] They also have independent evolutionary origins into aquatic habitats, with sea kraits diverging earlier from other Australasian elapids.[3][4] Thus, sea kraits and sea snakes are an example of convergent evolution into aquatic habitats within the Hydrophiinae snakes. Sea kraits are also often confused with land kraits (genus Bungarus), which are not aquatic.
- ^ Wilson, Stephen K.; Swan, Gerry (2013). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. Chatswood, New South Wales: New Holland Publishers. p. 564.
- ^ Cogger, Hal (2000). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Sydney, NSW: Reed New Holland. p. 722.
- ^ Pyron, R. Alexander; Burbrink, Frank T.; Colli, Guarino R.; de Oca, Adrian Nieto Montes; Vitt, Laurie J.; Kuczynski, Caitlin A.; Wiens, John J. (2011-02-01). "The phylogeny of advanced snakes (Colubroidea), with discovery of a new subfamily and comparison of support methods for likelihood trees". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 58 (2): 329–342. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.006. ISSN 1095-9513. PMID 21074626.
- ^ Keogh, J. Scott (1998-02-01). "Molecular phylogeny of elapid snakes and a consideration of their biogeographic history". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 63 (2): 177–203. doi:10.1006/bijl.1997.0178.