Homalopsis

Last updated

Homalopsis
Homalopsis buccata.jpg
Homalopsis buccata
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Clade: Colubroides
Family: Homalopsidae
Genus: Homalopsis
Kuhl & Hasselt, 1822
Species

5 species (see text)

Homalopsis is a genus of snakes of the family Homalopsidae. [1] [2] [3] The genus is restricted to South East Asia and includes five currently recognized species. [1] [4] Like all members of the family Homalopsidae, Homalopsis are rear-fanged and mildly venomous, though considered harmless to humans. [5]

Contents

Habitat

Homalopsis are a freshwater aquatic species that are found in a wide range of habitats including ponds, rivers, flowing streams, swamps, marshes and other wetlands. Human disturbance and activity does not seem to hinder this species as much as others and can be actively found in disturbed habitat such as man-made drainage ditches and irrigated agriculture fields. [6]

Behavior

This species is nocturnal and can be found in muddy bank holes or burrows during the day. It feeds primarily on fish but may also eat anurans and possibly crustaceans. [6]

Reproduction

Homalopsis are viviparous giving birth to live young. [3] [7]

Species

There are five species: [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Cyrtodactylus</i> Genus of lizards

Cyrtodactylus is a diverse genus of Asian geckos, commonly known as bent-toed geckos, bow-fingered geckos, and forest geckos. The genus has at least 300 described species as of 2020, which makes it the largest of all gecko genera.

Typhlopidae Family of snakes

The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing structure. They live underground in burrows, and since they have no use for vision, their eyes are mostly vestigial. They have light-detecting black eye spots, and teeth occur in the upper jaw. Typhlopids do not have dislocatable lower jaw articulations restricting them to prey smaller than their oral aperture. The tail ends with a horn-like scale. Most of these species are oviparous. Currently, 18 genera are recognized containing over 200 species.

Homalopsidae Family of snakes

The Homalopsidae are a family of snakes which contains about 28 genera and more than 50 species. They are commonly known as Indo-Australian water snakes, mudsnakes, or bockadams. They are also known as ular air in Indonesian. They are typically stout-bodied water snakes, and all are mildly venomous. Two monotypic genera are notable for their unusual morphology: Erpeton possesses a pair of short, fleshy appendages protruding from the front of the snout, and Bitia has uniquely enlarged palatine teeth. Cerberus species have been noted to use sidewinding to cross slick mud flats during low tide. Fordonia and Gerarda are the only snakes known to tear their prey apart before eating it, pulling soft-shelled crabs through their coils to rip them apart prior to ingestion.

<i>Oligodon</i> Genus of snakes

Oligodon is genus of colubrid snakes that was first described by the Austrian zoologist Fitzinger in 1826. This genus is widespread throughout central and tropical Asia.

<i>Cerberus rynchops</i> Species of snake

Cerberus rynchops, also known as the New Guinea bockadam, South Asian bockadam, bockadam snake, or dog-faced water snake, is a mildly venomous species of a snake in the family Homalopsidae. It is native to coastal waters of South and Southeast Asia. The species was re-delimited in 2012, allocating populations east and south of the west coast of Thailand to other species.

<i>Dieurostus</i> Genus of snakes

Dieurostus is a genus of snake in the family Homalopsidae. The genus Dieurostus is monotypic, containing only the species Dieurostus dussumieri, commonly known as Dussumier's water snake. The species, which is mildly venomous and rear-fanged, is endemic to Kerala, in southwestern India. It was formerly thought to be found in Bangladesh, although its distribution there is now disputed.

Rice paddy snake Species of snake

The rice paddy snake or plumbeous water snake is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake endemic to South Asia.

Siebolds water snake Species of snake

Siebold's water snake, also known commonly as Siebold's mud snake and Siebold's smooth water snake, is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake in the family Homalopsidae. The species is endemic to Asia.

<i>Homalopsis buccata</i> Species of snake

Homalopsis buccata is a species of water snake in the Homalopsidae family found in tropical areas of Southeast Asia.

<i>Acrochordus granulatus</i> Species of snake

Acrochordus granulatus is a snake species found from India through Southeast Asia to the Solomon Islands. It is known as the little file snake, marine file snake, and little wart snake. It is completely aquatic and almost helpless on land. No subspecies are currently recognized.

The Kapuas mud snake is a species of snake in the family Homalopsidae. The species, which is native to Borneo, can change its epidermal colour spontaneously.

The Chinese water snake, Chinese smooth water snake, Chinese mud snake or Chinese rice paddy snake is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged snake, endemic to Asia.

Djoko Tjahjono Iskandar is an Indonesian herpetologist who studies the amphibians of Southeast Asia and Australasia. He is a professor of biosystematics and ecology at Bandung Institute of Technology in West Java, Indonesia.

The keel-bellied water snake is a marine homalopsine snake. It belongs to the monotypic genus Bitia.

The Sind River snake is a species of mildly venomous, rear-fanged, colubrid snake. It is endemic to Thailand.

Yellow-bellied sea snake Species of snake

The yellow-bellied sea snake is a venomous species of snake from the subfamily Hydrophiinae found in tropical oceanic waters around the world except for the Atlantic Ocean. For many years, it was placed in the monotypic genus Pelamis, but recent molecular evidence indicates it lies within the genus Hydrophis.

Gyiophis is a genus of snakes in the family Homalopsidae. The genus is endemic to Myanmar.

Calamophis is a genus of snakes of the family Homalopsidae.

Subsessor is a genus of snake in the family Homalopsidae. The genus is monotypic, containing the sole species Subsessor bocourti. The species is commonly known as Bocourt's water snake and has traditionally been placed in the genus Enhydris.

Myanophis is a genus of snake in the family Homalopsidae that contains the sole species Myanophis thanlyinensis. It is endemic to Myanmar, and was described in 2021 from two male and two female specimens found in the vicinity of the campus of East Yangon University.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Homalopsis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 15 September 2018.
  2. Murphy, John C. & Voris, Harold K. (2014). "A checklist and key to the homalopsid snakes (Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes), with the description of new genera". Fieldiana Life and Earth Sciences. 8: 1–43. doi:10.3158/2158-5520-14.8.1. S2CID   84404949.
  3. 1 2 Vitt, Laurie J. & Caldwell, Janalee P. (2014). Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles (4th ed.). Academic Press. p. 617.
  4. Murphy, John C.; Voris, Harold K.; Murthy, B. H. C. K.; Traub, Joshua & Cumberbatch, Christina (2012). "The masked water snakes of the genus Homalopsis Kuhl & van Hasselt, 1822 (Squamata, Serpentes, Homalopsidae), with the description of a new species". Zootaxa. 3208 (1): 1–26. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3208.1.1.
  5. "Aquatic snakes southeast Asia". Field Museum.
  6. 1 2 Murphy, John C. 2007. Homalopsid Snakes: Evolution in the Mud. Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida, 249 pp.
  7. Karns, D. R.; Voris, H. K. & Goodwin, T. G. (2002). "Ecology of Oriental-Australian rear-fanged water snakes (Colubridae: Homalopsinae) in the Pasir Ris Park Mangrove Forest, Singapore" (PDF). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology. 50 (2): 487–498. S2CID   41170436.