Boaedon

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Boaedon
Lineatus2.jpg
Striped house snake, Boaedon lineatus.
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Lamprophiidae
Subfamily: Lamprophiinae
Genus: Boaedon
A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron, & Duméril, 1854
Species

22 recognized species, see text.

Boaedon is a genus of African lamprophiids consisting of the "brown" house snakes. The genus was originally described by Duméril but the species contained were reclassified as Lamprophis by Fitzinger in 1843, this taxonomy remained widely accepted until November 2010 when a phylogenetic study was published by C.M.R Kelly et al. who resurrected the Boaedon clade. [1] Although commonly regarded as belonging to the Colubridae, primary literature usually lists them and related species as belonging to the family Lamprophiidae within the superfamily Elapoidea, which includes the venomous cobras and mambas. [1]

Contents

Species

There are currently 22 species placed within the genus Boaedon, with new and updated ones occasionally being described.

Appearance

All members of the genus Boaedon are small snakes, generally attaining lengths of little more than 4 feet (120 cm) in length. Sexually dimorphic, females are always larger than males who attain lengths of approx. 2 feet (60 cm) there is some variance between species and between geographic locales of species.

Adult female "patternless" Boaedon capensis Kizzie.jpg
Adult female "patternless" Boaedon capensis

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 present with vertically elliptic pupils, they also present with few exceptions a v-shaped set of stripes stretching from the rostral scale through the eye to the rear of the head. Body pattern varies between species, B. olivaceus , B. upembae, B. mentalis, & B. fuliginosus are all naturally pattern less, 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 them from one another.

Geographic range

House snakes 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.

Related Research Articles

<i>Hemidactylus</i> Genus of common geckos

Hemidactylus is a genus of the common gecko family, Gekkonidae. It has 192 described species, newfound ones being described every few years. These geckos are found in all the tropical regions of the world, extending into the subtropical parts of Africa and Europe. They excel in colonizing oceanic islands by rafting on flotsam, and are for example found across most of Polynesia. In some archipelagoes, cryptic species complexes are found. Geckos like to live in and out of houses. They have been introduced to Australia.

<i>Pedioplanis</i> Genus of lizards

Pedioplanis is a genus of lizards in the family Lacertidae. All species of Pedioplanis are endemic to southern Africa.

<i>Lamprophis</i> Genus of snakes

Lamprophis is a genus of medium-sized, nonvenomous snakes commonly referred to as African house snakes, in the family Lamprophiidae.

<i>Psammophis</i> Genus of snakes

Psammophis is a genus of snakes in the family Psammophiidae. The genus comprises 33 species, which are found in Africa and Asia. Psammophis are diurnal and prey on lizards and rodents which they actively hunt. All species in the genus are venomous, and the venom is considered mild and not dangerous to humans.

<i>Trachylepis</i> Genus of lizards

Trachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, T. atlantica, and may occur in mainland South America with Trachylepis tschudii and Trachylepis maculata, both poorly known and enigmatic. The ancestors of T. atlantica are believed to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa during the last 9 million years.

<i>Hyperolius</i> Genus of frogs

Hyperolius is a large genus of frogs in the family Hyperoliidae from Sub-Saharan Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scincinae</span> Subfamily of lizards

Scincinae is a subfamily of lizards. The subfamily contains 33 genera, and the genera contain a combined total of 284 species, commonly called skinks. The systematics is at times controversial. The group is probably paraphyletic. It is one of three subfamilies of the family Scincidae, the other two being Acontinae and Lygosominae.

Mehelya is a genus name of snakes native to Africa. Some species formerly assigned to the genus Mehelya are now found in the genera Gonionotophis, Gracililima, or Limaformosa. They are collectively called file snakes due to their unusual scalation. They are not venomous.

<i>Lycodonomorphus</i> Genus of snakes

Lycodonomorphus is a genus of snakes commonly referred to as African water snakes. They are small, nonvenomous snakes, with all members being endemic to Africa, especially Tanzania.

Inyoka is a monotypic genus of southern African snakes. The word "inyoka" means "snake" in Zulu, Xhosa, Swahili, Shona and other African languages. These snakes were previously grouped in the genus Lamprophis but were found to be closer related to Hormonotus; a substantial genetic divergence between them and a 1900 km gap between their geographic ranges meant a new genus was erected for Lamprophis swazicus, the sole species of the new genus.

<i>Boaedon lineatus</i> Species of snake

Boaedon lineatus, the striped house snake, is a species of lamprophiid from throughout Africa. This species has a wide range stretching from Tanzania through Central Africa as far as Uganda. They are kept as pets with increasing regularity, often captured and exported for the pet trade. Until November 2010, this species was grouped in the genus Lamprophis, but a paper published by Kelly et al. reclassified this species in the genus Boaedon.

<i>Boaedon capensis</i> Species of snake

Boaedon capensis, the Cape house snake, also known as the brown house snake, is a species of lamprophiid from Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. They are a non-venomous lamprophiid. This species was previously grouped in the genus Lamprophis but is regrouped with the genus Boaedon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamprophiidae</span> Family of snakes

The Lamprophiidae are a family of snakes found throughout much of Africa, including the Seychelles. There are 89 species as of July 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lamprophiinae</span> Subfamily of snakes

Lamprophiinae is a subfamily of lamprophiid snakes, a large group of mostly African snakes, most of which were formerly classified as colubrids but which we now know are actually more closely related to elapids.

<i>Lycodonomorphus inornatus</i> Species of snake

Lycodonomorphus inornatus, commonly known as the olive house snake, the black house snake, and the olive ground snake, is a species of nonvenomous snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is endemic to southern Africa. It is a nocturnal snake with terrestrial habits.

<i>Boaedon olivaceus</i> Species of snake

Boaedon olivaceus is a species of snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is endemic to Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elapoidea</span> Superfamily of snakes

The Elapoidea are a 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 respect to elapids, and anywhere between four and nine families are now recognized.

<i>Bofa erlangeri</i> Species of snake

Bofa erlangeri, also known commonly as the Ethiopian house snake, is a species of snake in the family Lamprophiidae. The species is endemic to Ethiopia.

References

  1. 1 2 Kelly, C.M.R., et al. Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae, Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera Lamprophis, Fitzinger 1843 and Mehelya, Csiki 1903. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. (2010), doi : 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.010
  2. 1 2 Ceríaco, Luis MP; Arellano, Ana Lisette; Jadin, Robert C.; Marques, Mariana P.; Parrinha, Diogo; Hallermann, Jakob (2021-01-15). "Taxonomic revision of the Jita snakes (Lamprophiidae: Boaedon) from São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea), with the description of a new species". African Journal of Herpetology. 70 (1): 1–31. Bibcode:2021AfJH...70....1C. doi:10.1080/21564574.2020.1832152. ISSN   2156-4574. S2CID   234262958.