List of Serpentes families

This is an overview of the suborder Serpentes, its two infraorders (subdivisions) and the families they contain. This is the group of reptiles commonly known as snakes.

Snakes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Clade: Ophidia
Suborder: Serpentes
Linnaeus, 1758

Taxonomy

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There are two infraorders of living snakes: Alethinophidia and Scolecophidia. This separation is based primarily on morphological characteristics between family groups; however, more recently, the comparison of mitochondrial DNA has played its part.

As with most taxonomic classifications, there are many different interpretations of the evolutionary relationships. This had resulted in families being moved to different infraorders, the merging or splitting of infraorders and families. For instance, many sources classify Boidae and Pythonidae as the same family, or keep others, such as Elapidae and Hydrophiidae, separate for practical reasons despite their extremely close relationship.

Alethinophidia 15 families
Family Common Names Example Species Example Photo
Acrochordidae
Bonaparte, 1831
File snakes Arafura file snake (Acrochordus arafurae)  
Aniliidae
Stejneger, 1907
Coral pipe snakes False coral snake (Anilius scytale)  
Anomochilidae
Cundall, Wallach and Rossman, 1993
Dwarf pipe snakes Leonard's pipe snake, (Anomochilus leonardi)
Atractaspididae
Günther, 1858
Mole vipers Western purple-glossed snake (Amblyodipsas unicolor)  
Boidae
Gray, 1825
Boas Amazon tree boa (Corallus hortulanus)  
Bolyeridae
Hoffstetter, 1946
Round island boas Round Island burrowing boa (Bolyeria multocarinata)
Colubridae
Oppel, 1811
Colubrids Grass snake (Natrix natrix)  
Cylindrophiidae
Fitzinger, 1843
Asian pipe snakes Red-tailed pipe snake (Cylindrophis ruffus)  
Elapidae
Boie, 1827
Cobras, coral snakes, mambas, kraits, sea snakes, sea kraits, Australian elapids King cobra (Ophiophagus hannah)  
Loxocemidae
Cope, 1861
Mexican burrowing snakes Mexican burrowing snake (Loxocemus bicolor)  
Pythonidae
Fitzinger, 1826
Pythons Indian python (Python molurus)  
Tropidophiidae
Brongersma, 1951
Dwarf boas Dusky dwarf boa (Tropidophis melanurus)
Uropeltidae
Müller, 1832
Shield-tailed snakes, short-tailed snakes Ocellated shield-tail (Uropeltis ocellatus)
Viperidae
Oppel, 1811
Vipers, pitvipers, rattlesnakes European asp (Vipera aspis)  
Xenopeltidae
Bonaparte, 1845
Sunbeam snakes Sunbeam snake (Xenopeltis unicolor)
Scolecophidia 3 families
Family Common Names Example Species Example Photo
Anomalepidae
Taylor, 1939
Dawn blind snakes Dawn blind snake (Liotyphlops beui)
Leptotyphlopidae
Stejneger, 1892
Slender blind snakes Texas blind snake (Leptotyphlops dulcis)  
Typhlopidae
Merrem, 1820
Blind snakes Black blind snake (Typhlops reticulatus)

See also

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References

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  • "Serpentes". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
  • Suborder Ophidia (Serpentes) - Snakes (phylogeny) at New Reptile Database. Accessed 4 August 2007.