Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Vertebrata Order Squamata Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Class Reptilia Suborder Serpentes | |
Similar Lapemis, Acalyptophis, Astrotia, Emydocephalus, Hydrophis | ||
Disteira is a genus of sea snakes.
History
Disteira was characterized by Boulenger in 1890 as having grooved maxillary teeth following the first pair of poison fangs. However, later dental examination under more powerful magnification found all sea snakes have grooves in their teeth, some deep and wide channels visible to the naked eye, others only at the base of the tooth and requiring magnification to observe. In light of those new findings, Disteira and Hydrophis were merged until McDowell resurrected Disteira as a separate genus in 1972 to accommodate new species. He redefined Disteira as possessing a broad dorsal portion of the venom gland muscle called the Oxyuranus pattern.
Although McDowell rolled the monotypic genus Astrotia - which contains only Stoke's seasnake - into Disteira, that classification is not widely adopted.