Olive headed sea snake genome

The Olive headed sea snake (Hydrophis major) is a venomous sea snake in the family Elapidae. It can be found in the Indian Ocean in the waters off southern New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Australia (WA, NT, QLD, NSW).

Hydrophis major is representative of a larger lineage poorly-studied genomically, but subject of intensive collaborative studies of conservation biology, speciation and trait evolution.
Sea snakes are highly marine adapted reptiles that shared a common ancestor with terrestrial Australian snakes only 10-20 million years go. Yet the genomic changes that accompanied their land-sea transition are largely unknown.

Project coordinator:

• Kate Sanders (University of Adelaide)

Project collaborators:

• Jimmy Breen (University of Adelaide)

References cited:

• Citation

Resources:

• Atlas of Living Australia: Hydrophis major