Huon Peninsula snakes

28 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-28).The snakes known from the Huon Peninsula (from the longitude of Lae eastward) are listed and discussed, mainly on the basis of spcimens collected by the Seventh Archbold Expedition but using other collections as well. The taxonomy of the genus Dendralaphis in the Australian region is discussed and the following species are recognized: D. punctulatus (including D. lineolatus); d. calligastra, D. salomonis, D. lorentzi, D. papuensis (these four have usually been regarded as conspecific); and D. gastrostictus (including D. meeki); hemipenial morphology, dentition, and braincase form are used for discriminating the species. A misidentification of Typhlops inornatus as Ramphotyphlops flaviventer is corrected. The snake fauna, like the frog and lizard faunas previously discussed by Zweifel, is most easily explained as the result of dispersal to a Pliocene island that became joined (probably in the Pleistocene) to the New Guinea mainland, with a lowland fauna occupying this zone of juncture. Little, if any, endemicity is indicated for the Huon snake fauna and there is no special resemblance to the snake fauna of nearby New Britain and Umboi"--P. [1]