''Boaedon'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 ...

, commonly known as brown house snakes, in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

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. '' Ambly ...

. The genus is native to Africa, and was originally described by French zoologists

André Marie Constant Duméril André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became pr ...

Gabriel Bibron Gabriel Bibron (20 October 1805 – 27 March 1848) was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was ...

, and

Auguste Duméril Auguste Henri André Duméril (30 November 1812 – 12 November 1870) was a French zoologist. His father, André Marie Constant Duméril (1774–1860), was also a zoologist. In 1869 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences. Dum ...

. However, the

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

contained in the genus ''Boaedon'' were reclassified as belonging to the genus '' Lamprophis'', which had been described by Austrian zoologist

Leopold Fitzinger Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an Austrian zoologist. Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the University of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna Naturhis ...

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 Csiki is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Csiki (born 1999), Hungarian footballer * Ernő Csíki Ernst Csiki, Ernst Dietl or Ernő Csiki (Csíki) () (22 October 1875 in Vulkan – 7 July 1954 in Budapes ...

1903". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 58 (3): 415–426. Primary literature usually lists ''Boaedon'' and related

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

as belonging to the family Lamprophiidae within the superfamily

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 ...

, the superfamily which includes the venomous

cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

s and

mamba Mambas are fast-moving, highly venomous snakes of the genus ''Dendroaspis'' (which literally means "tree asp") in the family Elapidae. Four extant species are recognised currently; three of those four species are essentially arboreal and gre ...

Species

There are 27 species placed within the genus ''Boaedon'', www.reptile-database.org. with new and updated ones occasionally being described. *'' Boaedon angolensis'' – Angolan house snake *'' Boaedon arabicus'' *''

Boaedon bedriagae ''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 Du ...

'' *''

Boaedon bocagei ''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 Du ...

'' – Bocage's brown house snake *'' Boaedon branchi'' – Branch's brown house snake *'' Boaedon broadleyi'' *''

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 ...

A.M.C. Duméril AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** AM ...

Bibron Gabriel Bibron (20 October 1805 – 27 March 1848) was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was hire ...

& A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 – Cape house snake *'' Boaedon fradei'' – Frade's brown house snake *'' Boaedon fuliginosus'' (

F. Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University ...

, 1827) – brown house snake *'' Boaedon geometricus'' ( Schlegel, 1837) – Seychelles house snake *'' Boaedon lineatus'' A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 – striped house snake *'' Boaedon littoralis'' J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – coastal house snake *'' Boaedon longilineatus'' J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – long-lined house snake *'' Boaedon maculatus'' H. Parker, 1932 – dotted house snake *'' Boaedon mendesi'' *'' Boaedon mentalis'' ( Günther, 1888) – Namibian house snake *'' Boaedon montanus'' J.-F. Trape, Mediannikov, He. Hinkel & Ha. Hinkel, 2022 *'' Boaedon olivaceus'' ( A.H.A. Duméril, 1856) – olive house snake *''

Boaedon paralineatus ''Boaedon'' is a genus of snakes, Common name, commonly known as brown house snakes, in the Family (biology), family Lamprophiidae. The genus is native to Africa, and was originally described by French zoologists André Marie Constant Duméril, ...

'' J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 *'' Boaedon perisilvestris'' J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – Central African lined house snake *'' Boaedon radfordi'' Greenbaum, Portillo, K. Jackson & Kusamba, 2015 – Radford's house snake *'' Boaedon subflavus'' J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – yellow house snake *'' Boaedon subniger'' *'' Boaedon subtaeniatus'' *'' Boaedon upembae'' (Laurent, 1954) *''

Boaedon variegatus ''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 Du ...

'' (

Bocage Bocage (, ) is a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture characteristic of parts of northern France, southern England, Ireland, the Netherlands, northern Spain and northern Germany, in regions where pastoral farming is the dominant land use. ' ...

, 1867) *'' Boaedon virgatus'' ( Hallowell, 1854) – Hallowell's house snake ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Boaedon''.

Appearance

All members of the genus ''Boaedon'' are small snakes, generally attaining a total length (tail included) of little more than 4 feet (120 cm). A sexually dimorphic genus, female ''Boaedon'' snakes are always larger than males of the same age, which attain a total length of only approximately 2 feet (60 cm). There is some variance between species and between geographic locales of species. Overall body colouration is typically sandy brown to black, but green, orange, red and a variety of other locale specific variations do exist. All species are nocturnal by nature and have a vertically elliptic pupil. They also have with few exceptions a v-shaped set of stripes stretching from the

rostral scale The rostral scale, or rostral, in snakes and other scaled reptiles is the median plate on the tip of the snout that borders the mouth opening. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: ...

through the eye to the rear of the head. Body pattern varies among species. '' B. olivaceus'', ''B. upembae'', ''B. mentalis'', and ''B. fuliginosus'' are all naturally patternless. ''B. capensis'' and ''B. maculatus'' both have patternless variants, and ''B. lineatus'' typically has lateral striping running the length of the body. These are highly variable snakes and confusion is common when attempting to distinguish one species from another..

Geographic range

Species of brown house snakes of the genus ''Boaedon'' occur in all of sub-Saharan Africa, inhabiting dense forests and deserts as well as all other habitats in between. They are commonly found around towns where they will feast on the rodents which gather there.

External links

House Snake Forums

House Snake Captive care Guide

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2907511 Snakes of Africa Snake genera Lamprophiidae Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron Taxa named by Auguste Duméril