|
Lamprophiidae
The Lamprophiidae are a family of snakes found throughout much of Africa, including Seychelles. There are 89 species as of July 2022. Biology Lamprophiids are a diverse group of snakes. Many are terrestrial but some are fossorial (e.g. '' Amblyodipsas'') or semi-aquatic (e.g. '' Lycodonomorphus''). Some are fast-moving (e.g. ''Psammophis'') whereas others are slow (e.g. '' Duberria''). They are found in deserts, grasslands, tropical forests, and mountains. They feed on mammals, birds, other reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Some species use constriction to subdue their prey (e.g. '' Boaedon''). When other snake families were formerly included within the Lamprophiidae, they were considered even more diverse in biology, although this is now known to not be the case. Most species are oviparous. Classification Most lamprophiids were historically considered to be members of the subfamily Lamprophiinae in the family Colubridae. The following classification follows Pyro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elapoidea
The Elapoidea are a Superfamily (biology), superfamily of snakes in the clade Colubroides, traditionally comprising the families Lamprophiidae and Elapidae. Advanced genomic sequence studies, however, have found lamprophiids to be paraphyletic in respect to elapids, and anywhere between four and nine families are now recognized. Taxonomy In describing the subfamily Cyclocorinae, Weinell et al. (2017) suggested some or all subfamilies of Lamprophiidae should be reevaluated at full family status as a way to prevent the alternative, which is classifying them as elapids. This was followed in later studies such as Zaher et al. (2019). Alternatively, Das et al. (2023) classified Cyclocoridae, Elapidae, Micrelaps, Micrelapidae, and Lamprophiidae as distinct families, with all other families being subfamilies of Lamprophiidae; however, the Reptile Database still retains these as distinct families. Molecular studies suggest a rapid radiation of this superfamily within the Eocene, with a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from , 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest fossil species of the family date back to the Late Eocene epoch, with earlier origins suspected. Colubrid snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica. Description Colubrids are a very diverse group of snakes. They can exhibit many different body styles, body sizes, colors, and patterns. They can also live in many different types of habitats including aquatic, terrestrial, semi-arboreal, arboreal, desert, mountainous forests, semi-fossorial, and brackish waters. A primarily shy and harmless group of snakes, the vast majority of colubrids are not venomous, nor do most colubrids produce venom that is medically significant to mammals. However, the bites of some can escalate quickly to emergency situations. Furthermore, within the Colubridae, the South African boomslang and twig snakes, as well as the Asian keelback snakes (' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boaedon
''Boaedon'' is a genus of snakes, commonly known as brown house snakes, in the family Lamprophiidae. The genus is native to Africa, and was originally described by French zoologists André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Duméril. However, the species contained in the genus ''Boaedon'' were reclassified as belonging to the genus '' Lamprophis'', which had been described by Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843. This taxonomy remained widely accepted until November 2010 when a phylogenetic study was published by South African herpetologist Christopher M.R. Kelly et al. who resurrected the ''Boaedon'' clade. Kelly, Christopher M.R.; Branch, William R.; Broadley, Donald G.; Barker, Nigel P.; Villet, Martin H. (2011). "Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae, Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera ''Lamprophis'' Fitzinger 1843 and ''Mehelya'' Csiki 1903". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boaedon Capensis
''Boaedon capensis'', the Cape house snake, also known as the brown house snake, is a species of lamprophiid from Botswana, South Africa (from KwaZulu-Natal all the way through to the Western Cape), Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They are a non-venomous lamprophiid. This species was previously grouped in the genus '' Lamprophis'' but is regrouped with the genus '' Boaedon''. Appearance Cape house snakes are usually dark brown on top, but the colour varies greatly from almost black through brown to olive green. The stripes that stretch from the rostral scale through the eye to the back of the head are very strong, thick, and bold. This species may have a lateral stripe running down the flanks, often resembling the links of a chain. They also sometimes have lateral stripes running along either side of the spine. Linking lines between the lateral striping is not uncommon. These body markings tend to be a paler brown/cream in colour on top of the often dark, chocolate-brown bas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lycodonomorphus
''Lycodonomorphus'' is a genus of snakes commonly referred to as African water snakes. They are small, nonvenomous snakes, with all members being endemic to Africa, especially Tanzania. Species The following nine species are recognized as being valid. *'' Lycodonomorphus bicolor'' — Tanganyika white-bellied water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus inornatus'' — Olive house snake, Olive ground snake *'' Lycodonomorphus laevissimus'' — Dusky-bellied water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus leleupi'' — Congo dark-bellied water snake, Mulanje water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus mlanjensis'' — Mlanje white-bellied water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus obscuriventris'' — Floodplain water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus rufulus'' — Common brown water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus subtaeniatus'' — Eastern Congo white-bellied water snake, Lined water snake *'' Lycodonomorphus whytii'' — Whyte's water snake ''Nota bene'': A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snakes
Snakes are elongated Limbless vertebrate, limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamprophiinae
Lamprophiinae is a subfamily of Lamprophiidae, lamprophiid snakes, a large group of mostly African snakes, most of which were formerly classified as Colubridae, colubrids but which we now know are actually more closely related to Elapidae, elapids. Lamprophiine snakes are small to medium-sized snakes, several of which use constriction to subdue their prey. In general we know little about their ecology in the wild. The best-known lamprophiines are probably the genera ''Boaedon'' and ''Lamprophis'', commonly known as "house snakes". Several species are popular in the pet trade. ''Chamaelycus'' and ''Dendrolycus'' are the most poorly known genera. Genera There are currently 78 species in 15 genera placed in Lamprophiinae. * ''Alopecion'' André Marie Constant Duméril, Duméril, 1853 - spotted house snake * ''Boaedon'' André Marie Constant Duméril, A.M.C. Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, Bibron & Auguste Duméril, A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 (brown house snakes) * ''Bothrolycus'' Günther, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psammophis
''Psammophis'' is a genus of snakes in the family Psammophiidae. The genus comprises 33 species, which are found in Africa and Asia.. www.reptile-database.org. ''Psammophis'' are diurnal and prey on lizards and rodents which they actively hunt. All species in the genus are venomous, and the venom is considered mild and not dangerous to humans. Etymology The generic name ''Psammophis'' was coined by the Austrian herpetologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1826, a compound of the Hellenistic Greek ψαμμο, "sand" + Classical Greek ὄΦις, "snake", thus sand-snake. Description In the genus ''Psammophis'' the maxillary teeth are 10 to 13 in number, with one or two in the middle much enlarged and fang-like, preceded and followed by an interspace; the two posterior teeth are grooved. The anterior mandibular teeth are long, and the posterior teeth are small. The head is elongated and distinct from the neck, with an angular canthus rostralis. The eye is rather large, with a round pupil. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings known as hatchlings with little or no embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive method used by most animal species, as opposed to viviparous animals that develop the embryos internally and metabolically dependent on the maternal circulation, until the mother gives birth to live juveniles. Ovoviviparity is a special form of oviparity where the eggs are retained inside the mother (but still metabolically independent), and are carried internally until they hatch and eventually emerge outside as well-developed juveniles similar to viviparous animals. Modes of reproduction The traditional modes of reproduction include oviparity, taken to be the ancestral condition, traditionally where either unfertilised oocytes or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zoological subfamily names with "-inae". Detarioideae is an example of a botanical subfamily. Detarioideae is a subdivision of the family Fabaceae (legumes), containing 84 genera. Stevardiinae is an example of a zoological subfamily. Stevardiinae is a large subdivision of the family Characidae, a diverse clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ... of freshwater fish. See also * International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants * International Code of Zoological Nomenclature * Rank (botany) * Rank (zoolo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elapidae
Elapidae (, commonly known as elapids , from , variant of "sea-fish") is a family of snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Most elapids are venomous, with the exception of the genus '' Emydocephalus''. Many members of this family exhibit a threat display of rearing upwards while spreading out a neck flap. Elapids are endemic to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, with terrestrial forms in Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas and marine forms in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Members of the family have a wide range of sizes, from the white-lipped snake to the king cobra. Most species have neurotoxic venom that is channeled by their hollow fangs, and some may contain other toxic components in varying proportions. The family includes 55 genera with around 360 species and over 170 subspecies. Description Terrestrial elapids look similar to the Colubridae; almost all have long, slender bodies with smooth scales, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invertebrate
Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate subphylum Vertebrata, i.e. vertebrates. Well-known Phylum, phyla of invertebrates include arthropods, molluscs, annelids, echinoderms, flatworms, cnidarians, and sponges. The majority of animal species are invertebrates; one estimate puts the figure at 97%. Many invertebrate taxon, taxa have a greater number and diversity of species than the entire subphylum of Vertebrata. Invertebrates vary widely in size, from 10 Micrometre, μm (0.0004 in) myxozoans to the 9–10 m (30–33 ft) colossal squid. Some so-called invertebrates, such as the Tunicata and Cephalochordata, are actually sister chordate subphyla to Vertebrata, being more closely related to vertebrates than to other invertebrates. This makes the "invertebrates" para ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
