TY - JOUR T1 - Sea snakes (Elapidae, Hydrophiinae) in their westernmost extent: an updated and illustrated checklist and key to the species in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman JF - ZooKeys JO - ZK M3 - 10.3897/zookeys.622.9939 VL - 622 AU - Rezaie-Atagholipour, Mohsen AU - Ghezellou, Parviz AU - Hesni, Majid Askari AU - Dakhteh, Seyyed Mohammad Hashem AU - Ahmadian, Hooman AU - Vidal, Nicolas Y1 - 06/10/2016 UR - https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.622.9939 N2 - The Persian Gulf is known as the westernmost distribution limit for sea snakes, except for Hydrophis platurus (Linnaeus, 1766) that reaches southeastern Africa. Previous identification guides for sea snakes of the Persian Gulf and its adjacent waters in the Gulf of Oman were based on old data and confined mostly to written descriptions. Therefore, a series of field surveys were carried out in 2013 and 2014 through Iranian coastal waters of both gulfs to provide a comprehensive sampling of sea snakes in the area. This paper presents an illustrated and updated checklist and identification tool for sea snakes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, which are based on new material and a review of the literature. This checklist includes ten species of marine hydrophiines, of which one, Microcephalophis cantoris (Günther, 1864), is a new record for the area. All specimens examined herein are deposited and available at the Zoological Museum of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Kerman province, Iran. PB - Pensoft Publishers SP - 129-164 SN - 1313-2989 SN - 1313-2970 IS - ER -