''Gyiophis'' 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 ...

of 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 ...

Homalopsidae The Homalopsidae are a family of snakes which contains about 30 genus, genera and more than 50 species. They are commonly known as Indo-Australian water snakes, mudsnakes, or bockadams. They are also known as (lit. "water snake") in Indonesian. ...

.. The genus is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Etymology

The genus ''Gyiophis'' was named in honor of the Burmese herpetologist

Ko Ko Gyi Ko Ko Gyi (, born 18 December 1961) is a Burmese politician and leading democracy activist. For his protests against the State Peace and Development Council, military government, he spent over 17 years in prison on multiple occasions between 198 ...

Species

, three described species have been classified in the genus ''Gyiophis''. *'' Gyiophis maculosus'' – Blanford's mud snake *'' Gyiophis salweenensis'' –

Salween river The Salween is a Southeast Asian river, about long, flowing from the Tibetan Plateau south into the Andaman Sea. The Salween flows primarily within southwest China and eastern Myanmar, with a short section forming the border of Myanmar and Tha ...

basin mud snake *'' Gyiophis vorisi'' – Voris' mud 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 ''Gyiophis''.

Geographic range

All three species in the genus ''Gyiophis'' are found in

. Two species, ''G. maculosa'' and ''G. vorisi'', live in the

Irrawaddy Delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar (Burma) that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mout ...

, whereas ''G. salweenensis'' lives in the

Salween River The Salween is a Southeast Asian river, about long, flowing from the Tibetan Plateau south into the Andaman Sea. The Salween flows primarily within southwest China and eastern Myanmar, with a short section forming the border of Myanmar and Tha ...

basin.

References

Snake genera Colubrids Reptiles of Myanmar {{colubrid-stub