White-lipped snake

White-lipped snake
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Genus:	Drysdalia Worrell, 1961
Species:	D. coronoides
Binomial name
Drysdalia coronoides Günther, 1858
Synonyms[1]
Hoplocephalus coronoides Günther, 1858 Alecto labialis Jan & Sordelli, 1873 Denisonia coronoides — Boulenger, 1896 Denisonia nigra De Vis, 1905 Denisonia coronoides — Kinghorn, 1924 Drysdalia coronoides — Worrell, 1961 Notechis coronoides — Storr, 1982 Drysdalia coronoides — Cogger, 1983

The white-lipped snake (Drysdalia coronoides) is a small species of elapid snake that is endemic to south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania. It is the smallest of three species of snake found in Tasmania and is Australia's most cold tolerant snake, even inhabiting areas on Mount Kosciuszko above the snow line. Growing to only about 40 cm (16 in) in length, this snake feeds almost exclusively on skinks. It belongs to the genus Drysdalia, and is often referred to as the whip snake in Tasmania (true whip snakes from Australia are in the genus Demansia and are only found on the mainland). This species gets its common name from a thin, white line bordered above by a narrow black line that runs along the upper lip.^[2]

References

Further reading

• Boulenger GA. 1896. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Denisonia coronoides, new combination, pp. 336–337).
• Günther A. 1858. Catalogue of the Colubrine Snakes in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xvi + 281 pp. (Hoplocephalus coronoides, new species, pp. 215–216).

External links

• "Drysdalia coronoides". The Encyclopedia of Life. EOL.org