:''Common names: Mauritius snakes, Round Island boas, splitjaw snakes.'' The Bolyeriidae are a

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 ...

of snakes native to

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

and a few islands around it, especially Round Island. They also used to be found on the island of Mauritius, but were extirpated there due to human influence and foraging pigs in particular. These snakes used to be placed in the

Boidae The Boidae, commonly known as boas or boids, are a family of nonvenomous snakes primarily found in the Americas, as well as Africa, Europe, Asia, and some Pacific islands. Boas include some of the world's largest snakes, with the green anaconda ...

, but are now classed as a separate family. Two

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

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 ...

are recognized, but only a single species is extant (not extinct). Bolyeriidae appear to be most closely related to the Asian genus '' Xenophidion''.

Geographic range

Found in Mauritius and its surrounding islets such as Serpent island, Round island, Flat island etc.

Genera

^T)

Type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

. Both of these monotypic genera once inhabited Mauritius and/or a number of islands around it. However, ''Bolyeria'' hasn't been reported since 1975 and is believed to be extinct, while ''Casarea'' is known to survive only on Round Island.

References

External links

Bolyeriids at Life is Short, but Snakes are Long
{{Authority control Reptiles of Mauritius Endemic fauna of Mauritius Taxa named by Robert Hoffstetter Snake families

Geographic range

Genera

References

Further reading

External links