Pareidae is a small
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of
snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...
s found largely in southeast Asia, with an isolated
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to southwestern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
. It encompasses 42 species in four
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
divided into two subfamilies: Pareinae and Xylophiinae. Both families are thought to have diverged from one another during the early-mid
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...
, about 40-50 million years ago.
Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on eve ...
(called "Pareatinae"), but it is now known that pareids are not closely related to colubrids. The correct spelling is Pareidae, not Pareatidae.
Members of the subfamily Pareinae are active, predatory snakes. Many are snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class ...
-eating snakes that have asymmetrical lower jaws, allowing them to pry the soft bodies of snails from their spiral shells. One species, ''Pareas iwasakii'', has an average of 17.5 teeth in its left mandible and 25 teeth in its right mandible.
Genera and species
*Subfamily Pareinae
**'' Aplopeltura'' (1 species)
**'' Asthenodipsas'' (9 species)
**''Pareas
''Pareas'' is a genus of Asian snakes in the family Pareidae. All species in the genus ''Pareas'' are harmless to humans.
Species
''Pareas'' contains the following species: (''Pareas menglaensis'', new species). (''Pareas kaduri'', new species ...
'' (27 species)
* Subfamily Xylophiinae
** '' Xylophis'' (5 species)
References
External links
Pareids at Life is Short, but Snakes are Long
Pareids at The Reptile Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q143731
Snake families
Snakes of Asia
Taxa named by Alfred Romer