''Langaha'' is a small
genus
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 n ...
of
elapoid snakes in the
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 ...
Pseudoxyrhophiidae
The Pseudoxyrhophiidae is a family of elapoid snakes, found mostly in Madagascar. They were formerly placed as a subfamily of the Lamprophiidae, but have been more recently identified as a distinct family.
It contains about 22 genera in two ...
. The genus contains three
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...
, all of which are
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 els ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
.
Species
There are three described species in the genus ''Langaha'':
*''
Langaha alluaudi'' – southern leafnose snake
*''
Langaha madagascariensis
''Langaha madagascariensis'' (formerly ''Langaha nasuta'', commonly known as the Madagascar or Malagasy leaf-nosed snake) is a medium-sized highly crypsis, cryptic arboreal species. It is Endemism, endemic to Madagascar and found in deciduous dry ...
'' – Madagascar leafnose snake
*''
Langaha pseudoalluaudi''
Etymology
The
specific name, ''alluaudi'', is in honor of French entomologist
Charles Alluaud.
[ Beolens B, Watkins M, ]Grayson M
Grayson may refer to:
Places Canada
* Grayson, Saskatchewan
* Rural Municipality of Grayson No. 184, Saskatchewan
United States
* Grayson, California
* Grayson, Georgia
** Grayson High School
* Grayson, Kentucky
* Grayson, Louisiana
* ...
(2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Langaha alluaudi'', p. 6).
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of ''Langaha alluaudi'' and ''L. pseudoalluaudi'' is in need of revision.
References
Further reading
*
Bonnaterre J(1790). ''Tableau encyclopédique et methodique des trois Règnes de la Nature, Ophiologie.'' Paris: Panckoucke. xliv + 33–76. (''Langaha'', new genus, p. 71). (in French and Latin).
*
Glaw F,
Vences M (1994). ''A Fieldguide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of Madagascar, Second Edition''. Cologne, Germany: Vences & Glaw Verlag / Serpents Tale. 480 pp. .
Pseudoxyrhophiidae
Reptiles of Madagascar
{{Colubrids-stub