Color variation of the sea snake Pelamis platura (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Golfo Dulce, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Color variation of the sea snake Pelamis platura (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Golfo Dulce, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Authors

  • Alejandro Solórzano

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v3i1.211

Keywords:

Reptilia, Serpentes, Elapidae, Pelamis platura, color pattern, Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica.

Abstract

The yellow-bellied sea snake (Pelamis platura) is the most widely distributed of the marine snakes, and throughout its range this species exhibits extensive variation in color and pattern. The coloration of most individuals is black with brown and/or yellow, displayed within a variable pattern, although patternless bright-yellow individuals have been reported from certain localities in Costa Rica and Panama. Recently, within Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica, a population was discovered in which all individuals displayed extensive amounts of yellow coloration. The evidence suggests that the circulation patterns of the surface currents within and outside of this fjord-like gulf apparently are strong enough to interrupt the flow (or genetic interchange) among the oceanic and gulf populations. The lack or loss of dark pigment in the dorsum of the Golfo Dulce population might be due to the water temperatures and other specific conditions in the interior of this anoxic basin, the only one in the Pacific coast of Western Hemisphere.

References

Campbell, J. A. & W. W. Lamar. 2004. The venomous reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 vols. Cornell, Ithaca, New York.

Dunson, W. A. 1975. The Biology of the Sea Snakes. University Park, Baltimore MD., 356 p.

Greene, H. W. 1997. Snakes: the evolution of mistery in nature. Univ. California, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, 351 p.

Heatwole, H. H. 1999. Sea Snakes. 2nd Edition. Krieger Publ., Malabar, Florida, 148 p.

Kropach, C. 1975. The yellow-bellied sea snake Pelamis platurus in the Eastern Pacific, p. 185-213. In W. A. Dunson (ed.). The Biology of the Sea Snakes. University Park, Baltimore, London and Tokio.

Minton, S. A. 1975. Geographic Distribution of Sea Snakes, p. 21-31. In W. A. Dunson (ed.). The Biology of the Sea snakes. University Park, Baltimore, London and Tokio.

Quesada-Alpízar, M. A. & A. Morales-Ramírez. 2004. Comportamiento de las masas de agua en el Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica, durante el Niño (1997-1998). Rev. Biol. Trop. 52 (supl.2): 95-103.

Quesada-Alpízar, M. A. & J. Cortés. 2006. Los ecosistemas marinos del Pacífico sur de Costa Rica: estado del conocimiento y perspectivas de manejo. Rev. Biol. Trop. 54 (Supl. 1): 101-145.

Sasa, M., G. Chaves & L. W. Porras. 2010. The Costa Rican herpetofauna: Conservation status and future perspectives, P. 510-603. In L.D. Wilson, J. H. Townsend & J.D. Johnson (eds.). Conservation of Mesoamerican Amphibians and Reptiles. Eagle Mountain Publ, LC., Eagle Mountain, Utah.

Savage, J. M. 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continentes, Two Seas. Univ. Chicago Press, Chicago and London. 934 p.

Savage, J. M. & F. Bolaños. 2009. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Costa Rica: Additions and nomenclatural revisions. Zootaxa 2005: 1-23.

Svendsen, H., R. Rosland, S. M. Myking, J. A. Vargas, O. G. Lizano & E. Alfaro. 2006. A physical-oceanographic study of Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica. Rev. Biol. Trop. 54 (Supl. 1): 147-170.

Solórzano, A. 2004. Serpientes de Costa Rica (Snakes of Costa Rica). Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), Santo Domingo, Heredia. 791 p.

Tu, A. T. 1976. Investigation of the Sea Snake Pelamis platurus (Reptilia, Serpentes, Hydrophiidae) on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, Central America. J. Herpetol. 10: 13-18.

Voris, H. K. 1983. Pelamis platurus, p. 411-12. In D. H. Janzen (ed.). Costa Rican Natural History. Chicago Illinois.

Published

2011-06-01

How to Cite

Solórzano, A. (2011). Color variation of the sea snake Pelamis platura (Serpentes: Elapidae) in Golfo Dulce, Puntarenas, Costa Rica. UNED Research Journal, 3(1), 89–96. https://doi.org/10.22458/urj.v3i1.211

Issue

Section

Articles
Loading...