Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all,
I'm looking for info on how to differentiate between the different sp/ssp. Hydrodynastes in the herpetocultural trade are often listed as H. Gigas, but I was recently told that often dealers really don't know which sp they have and just assume they're H. Gigas from the number of them imported.

Listed on EMBL as:

Hydrodynastes bicinctus
- Hydrodynastes bicinctus bicinctus
- Hydrodynastes bicinctus schultzi

Hydrodynastes gigas

If anyone can educate me on how to differentiate between them I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

Here's a "start":

http://srs.embl-heidelberg.de:8000/srs5bin/cgi-bin/wgetz?[REPTILIA-Species:Hydrodynastes*]

Looks like the subspecies of bicinctus are considered to be synonymous, but I don't what the difference between h. gigas and h. bicinctus are. I would love to see side by side pictures of the two species, assuming they are still considered separate species.

Dr. Wuster (WW) on the venomous forum probably can give you an answer.

The two species are fairly distinct. H. bicinctus has almost a coral snake pattern, although the colours tend to be fairly subdued especially in adults (medium-brown bands separated from dark brown bands by narrow lighter bands). I have seen a photo of a juvie that was quite coral-like, though. Also, H. bicinctus has 17 scale rows at midbody, whereas H. gigas has 19. Really, very little has been published about H. bicinctus.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Wolfgang
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WW

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