Homalopsidae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Homalopsidae
File:Cerberus rynchops.jpg
New Guinea bockadam
Cerberus rynchops
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Clade: Colubroides
Family: Homalopsidae
Bonaparte, 1845
Genera

29, see text

The Homalopsidae are a family of snakes which contains about 30 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 (lit. "water snake") 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.[1]

Genera

[edit | edit source]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). (Myanophis, new genus; M. thanlyinensis, new species).

Further reading

[edit | edit source]
  • Bonaparte CL (1845). "Specchio generale dei sistemi erpetologico, anfibiologico ed ittiologico". Atti della Riunione degli Scienziati Italiani 6: 376–378. (Homalopsidae, new family). (in Italian).
  • Goin CJ, Goin OB, Zug GR (1978). Introduction to Herpetology, Third Edition. San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company. xi + 378 pp. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).. (Subfamily Homalopsinae, pp. 326–327).
[edit | edit source]

Lua error in Module:Taxonbar at line 165: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).