First Record of the Blue-banded Sea Krait(Laticauda laticaudata,Reptilia: Squamata: Elapidae: Laticaudinae) on Jeju Island,South Korea

We report the first recorded capture of a blue-banded sea snake(Laticauda laticaudata Linnaeus, 1758, Jobeuntti Kun Badabam in Korean) in South Korea based on one male specimen collected from Marado-ri, Seogwiposi, Jeju-do on 20 October 2016. The morphological features of the lateral nostrils, the much wider ventrals than adjacent dorsals, the horizontally undivided rostral, the two prefrontals, and the uniform black bands on the body indicate that the specimen is L. laticaudata. An analysis of the partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence indicated that the specimen fits well into the known L. laticaudata phylogenetic group, which confirms that the sea krait is L. laticaudata. Including this report, five species of sea snakes(L. laticaudata, L. semifasciata, Hydrophis platurus, H. cyanocinctus, and H. melanocephalus) have now been reported in Korean waters.