Homalopsis Explained

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

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.^[4]

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.^[4]

Reproduction

Homalopsis are viviparous giving birth to live young.^[5]

Species

There are five species:

• Homalopsis buccata (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Homalopsis hardwickii Gray, 1842
• Homalopsis mereljcoxi Murphy, Voris, Murthy, Traub & Cumberbatch, 2012
• Homalopsis nigroventralis Deuve, 1970
• Homalopsis semizonata Blyth, 1855

Notes and References

1. Murphy . John C. . Voris . Harold K. . amp . 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 . 10.3158/2158-5520-14.8.1. 84404949 .
2. Murphy . John C. . Voris . Harold K. . Murthy . B. H. C. K. . Traub . Joshua . Cumberbatch . Christina . amp . 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. 10.11646/zootaxa.3208.1.1 .
3. Web site: Aquatic snakes southeast Asia . 11 January 2011 . Field Museum.
4. Murphy, John C. 2007. Homalopsid Snakes: Evolution in the Mud. Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida, 249 pp.
5. Karns . D. R. . Voris . H. K. . Goodwin . T. G. . amp . 2002 . Ecology of Oriental-Australian rear-fanged water snakes (Colubridae: Homalopsinae) in the Pasir Ris Park Mangrove Forest, Singapore . Raffles Bulletin of Zoology . 50 . 2 . 487–498 . 41170436 .