Species Demansia olivacea (Gray, 1842)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Lycodon olivaceus Gray, J.E. 1842. Description of some hitherto unrecorded species of Australian reptiles and batrachians. pp. 51-57 in Gray, J.E. (ed.). The Zoological Miscellany. London : Treuttel, Würz & Co. [54].

  Type data:

   Syntype(s) whereabouts unknown (presumed lost, 2 syntypes listed by Boulenger, G.A. 1896. Catalogue of Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). 3. London : British Museum xiv 727 pp. 25 pls cannot be Gray's specimens, as locality and other collection data do not correspond, see Cogger, H.G. & Lindner, D.A. 1974. Frogs and reptiles in fauna survey of the Port Essington District, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory of Australia. In Frith, H.J. & Calaby, J.H. (eds) CSIRO Div. Wildl. Res. Tech. Pap. 28: 63–107), Port Essington, NT.
• Elapocephalus ornaticeps Macleay, W. 1878. Notes on a collection of snakes from Port Darwin. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 2: 219-222 [221].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM R31918, Port Darwin, NT.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Cogger, H.G., in Cogger, H.G., Cameron, E.E. & Cogger, H.M. 1983. Amphibia and Reptilia. 313 pp. in Walton, D.W. (ed.). Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1 vi + 313 pp. [221]

 

Generic Combinations

• Demansia olivacea (Gray, 1842). —
  Günther, A. 1858. Catalogue of Colubrine Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum. London : British Museum xvi 281 pp. [212] (new combination)

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Australian Endemic.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Northern Kimberley (NK), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Ecological Descriptors

Amphibious, diurnal, low open woodland, open forest, oviparous, predator, terrestrial.

Extra Ecological Information

Lacertiphagous.

 

General References

Cogger, H.G. & Lindner, D.A. 1974. Frogs and reptiles in fauna survey of the Port Essington District, Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory of Australia. In Frith, H.J. & Calaby, J.H. (eds) CSIRO Div. Wildl. Res. Tech. Pap. 28: 63–107. (natural history)

Shea, G.M. & Scanlon, J.D. 2007. Revision of the Small Tropical Whipsnakes previously referred to Demansia oliviacea (Gray, 1842) and Demansia torquata (Günther, 1862) (Squamata: Elapidae). Records of the Australian Museum 59(2): 117-142 [125] (redescription, revision of species, restriction of distribution to Kimberley Region and Top End of NT, including Melville Is. and Groot Eylandt)

Shine, R. 1980. Ecology of eastern Australian whipsnakes of the genus Demansia. Journal of Herpetology 14: 381-389 (ecology)

Storr, G.M. 1978. Whip snakes Demansia (Elapidae) of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 6: 287-301 (taxonomy)

 

Common Name References

Clayton, M., Wombey, J.C., Mason, I.J., Chesser, R.T. & Wells, A. 2006. CSIRO List of Australian Vertebrates: A Reference with Conservation Status. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing iv 162 pp. [44] (Olive Whipsnake)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
07-Feb-2024	SQUAMATA	31-Jan-2024	MODIFIED
07-Feb-2024		26-Aug-2013	MODIFIED
08-Mar-2011		08-Mar-2011	MODIFIED
		12-Feb-2010	(import)