The Alteration Pattern of Dorsal Scale Rows in the Yellow-Lipped Sea Snake Laticauda colubrina, with special Reference to Sexual Dimorphism

Abstract

The alteration pattern of dorsal scale rows in the yellow-lipped sea snake Laticauda colubrina was investigated and compared between the sexes. In the female, the number of scale rows once increased in the anterior part of the body and was subsequently reduced three times posteriorly, whereas that in the male showed only two reductions. The addition and one reduction in the female were unique to that sex. The last two reductions were common to both sexes, but appeared more posteriad in the female than in the male.