Elapoidea Explained

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.^{[1] [2]}

Taxonomy

In describing the subfamily Cyclocorinae, Weinell et al. (2017) suggested some or all subfamilies of Lamprophiidae should be reevaluated at full family status as a way to prevent the alternative, which is classifying them as elapids. This was followed in later studies such as Zaher et al. (2019).^[3] Alternatively, Das et al. (2023) classified Cyclocoridae, Elapidae, Micrelapidae, and Lamprophiidae as distinct families, with all other families being subfamilies of Lamprophiidae; however, the Reptile Database still retains these as distinct families.^[4]

Molecular studies suggest a rapid radiation of this superfamily within the Eocene, with all families diverging from one another by the end of the epoch. Although studies have found conflicting results, Cyclocoridae is generally considered the most basal member of the superfamily.

Below is the phylogeny of Elapoidea after Weinell et al. (2017), with the interrelations of Elapid after Lee et al. (2016) and Figueroa et al. (2016):An alternative phylogeny was found by Das et al. (2023) and Das et al. (2024), subsuming many families into subfamilies of Lamprophiidae:^[5]

Families and subfamilies:^[6]

• Family: Cyclocoridae Weinell & Brown, 2017—Philippine snakes
• Family: Psammodynastidae Das et al., 2024—mock vipers
• Family: Elapidae F. Boie, 1827—Cobras, coral snakes, mambas, taipans, sea snakes, and others
  • Calliophiinae
  • Micrurinae
  • Najinae
  • Bungarinae
  • Hydrophiinae Fitzinger, 1843
• Family: Pseudaspididae Cope, 1893—mole snake and western keeled snake
• Family: Prosymnidae Gray, 1849—shovel-snouted snakes
• Family: Psammophiidae Bourgeois, 1968—sand snakes and allies
• Family: Micrelapidae, Das et al., 2023—two-headed snakes^[7]
• Family: Atractaspididae Günther, 1858—African burrowing asps, stiletto snakes, harlequin snakes
  • Atractaspidinae Günther, 1858
  • Aparallactinae Bourgeois, 1968
• Family: Pseudoxyrhophiidae Dowling, 1975—Malagasy hognose snakes, brook snakes, and allies
  • Amplorhininae Meirte, 1992
  • Pseudoxyrhophiinae Dowling, 1975
• Family: Lamprophiidae Fitzinger, 1843—lamprophiids

Notes and References

1. Weinell. J. L.. Brown. R. M.. Discovery of an old, archipelago-wide, endemic radiation of Philippine snakes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 2017. 119. 144–150. 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.11.004. 29162550. free.
2. Das . Sunandan . Greenbaum . Eli . Meiri . Shai . Bauer . Aaron M. . Burbrink . Frank T. . Raxworthy . Christopher J. . Weinell . Jeffrey L. . Brown . Rafe M. . Brecko . Jonathan . Pauwels . Olivier S. G. . Rabibisoa . Nirhy . Raselimanana . Achille P. . Merilä . Juha . 2023-03-01 . Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 180 . 107700 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700 . 36603697 . 255467733 . 1055-7903. free .
3. Zaher . Hussam . Murphy . Robert W. . Arredondo . Juan Camilo . Graboski . Roberta . Machado-Filho . Paulo Roberto . Mahlow . Kristin . Montingelli . Giovanna G. . Quadros . Ana Bottallo . Orlov . Nikolai L. . Wilkinson . Mark . Zhang . Ya-Ping . 2019-05-10 . Large-scale molecular phylogeny, morphology, divergence-time estimation, and the fossil record of advanced caenophidian snakes (Squamata: Serpentes) . PLOS ONE . en . 14 . 5 . e0216148 . 10.1371/journal.pone.0216148 . 31075128 . 6512042 . 2019PLoSO..1416148Z . 1932-6203. free .
4. Web site: Advanced search The Reptile Database . 2023-08-22 . reptile-database.reptarium.cz.
5. Das . Sunandan . Greenbaum . Eli . Brecko . Jonathan . Pauwels . Olivier S. G. . Ruane . Sara . Pirro . Stacy . Merilä . Juha . 2024-04-25 . Phylogenomics of Psammodynastes and Buhoma (Elapoidea: Serpentes), with the description of a new Asian snake family . Scientific Reports . en . 14 . 1 . 9489 . 10.1038/s41598-024-60215-2 . 2045-2322. 11045840 .
6. Web site: Search results The Reptile Database . 2022-07-21 . reptile-database.reptarium.cz.
7. Das . Sunandan . Greenbaum . Eli . Meiri . Shai . Bauer . Aaron M. . Burbrink . Frank T. . Raxworthy . Christopher J. . Weinell . Jeffrey L. . Brown . Rafe M. . Brecko . Jonathan . Pauwels . Olivier S. G. . Rabibisoa . Nirhy . Raselimanana . Achille P. . Merilä . Juha . 2023-03-01 . Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . en . 180 . 107700 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107700 . 36603697 . 1055-7903. 10138/352742 . 255467733 . free .