Lamprophiidae Explained

The Lamprophiidae are a family of snakes[1] found throughout much of Africa, including Seychelles. There are 89 species as of July 2022.[2]

Biology

Lamprophiids are a diverse group of snakes. Many are terrestrial but some are fossorial (e.g. Amblyodipsas) or semi-aquatic (e.g. Lycodonomorphus). Some are fast-moving (e.g. Psammophis) whereas others are slow (e.g. Duberria). They are found in deserts, grasslands, tropical forests, and mountains. They feed on mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. Some species use constriction to subdue their prey (e.g. Boaedon). When other snake families were formerly included within the Lamprophiidae, they were considered even more diverse in biology, although this is now known to not be the case. Most species are oviparous.

Classification

Most lamprophiids were historically considered to be members of the subfamily Lamprophiinae in the family Colubridae. The following classification follows Pyron et al., 2010,[3] whose finding that lamprophiids are more closely related to elapids has been repeated by several other studies.[4] [5] [6] [7] Together these two groups are sometimes referred to as the Elapoidea. In fact, some studies have found that Elapidae is nested within Lamprophiidae,[6] [7] a finding that necessitated taxonomic changes to restore monophyly within Elapoidea. Following this, multiple subfamilies within Lamprophiidae were reclassified as their own families, reducing the number of species, overall distribution, and diversity in form of Lamprophiidae as previously defined; prior to this revision, members of Lamprophiidae were thought to be even more diverse in form and behavior, and were thought to have a distribution from Africa to Madagascar, southern Europe, and most of Asia. They are now known to be found in Africa and Seychelles.[8] [8] [9]

List of subfamilies and genera

Former subfamilies

These taxa were formerly classified in Lamprophiidae, but are now either classified as families of their own or subfamilies of other taxa.[8]

In captivity

Some members of the Lamprophiidae, such as the African house snake (genus Boaedon) are kept and bred as pets by herpetoculturists. Due to their placid nature, classification as nonvenomous snakes, easy care requirements, and small size, many of the species that are bred in captivity are considered by many to be a perfect pet reptile for novices and experienced reptile keepers alike.[10]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Lamprophiidae - Die Systematik. www.dahmstierleben.de.
  2. Web site: Uetz. Peter. Lamprophiidae. The Reptile Database. April 12, 2019.
  3. http://www.cnah.org/pdf_files/1724.pdf Pyron RA, Burbrink FT, Colli GR, Montes de Oca AN, Vitt LJ, Kuczynski CA, Wiens JJ. 2010. The phylogeny of advanced snakes (Colubroidea), with discovery of a new subfamily and comparison of support methods for likelihood trees. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58: 329–342.
  4. Pyron. R. A.. Burbrink. F.. Wiens. J. J.. A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2013. 13. 1 . 93. 10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. 23627680. 3682911 . free . 2013BMCEE..13...93P .
  5. Streicher. J. W.. Ruane. S.. Phylogenomics of Snakes. eLS. 2018. 10.1002/9780470015902.a0027476. 1–8. 9780470015902.
  6. Figueroa. A.. McKelvy. A. D.. Grismer. L. L.. Bell. C. D.. Lailvaux. S. P.. A species-level phylogeny of extant snakes with description of a new colubrid subfamily and genus. PLOS ONE. 2016. 11. 9. e0161070. 5014348. 10.1371/journal.pone.0161070. 27603205. 2016PLoSO..1161070F . free.
  7. Zheng. Y. Wiens. JJ. Combining phylogenomic and supermatrix approaches, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) based on 52 genes and 4162 species. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 2016. 94. Pt B. 537–547. 10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.009. 26475614.
  8. 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 .
  9. Web site: Search results The Reptile Database . 2022-07-21 . reptile-database.reptarium.cz.
  10. Web site: The African House Snake - Care in Captivity.

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