Henophidia is a former

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

of the suborder Serpentes ( snakes) that contains boas, pythons and numerous other less-well-known snakes. Snakes once considered to belong to superfamily Henophidia include two families now considered Amerophidia ( Aniliidae – red pipe snakes, and Tropidophiidae – dwarf "boas" or thunder snakes), three families now considered

Uropeltoidea The Uropeltoidea, also known as uropeltoid snakes, are a superfamily of snakes that contains uropeltids (family Uropeltidae) and Asian pipesnakes (families Cylindrophiidae and Anomochilidae). As of 2018, Uropeltoidea contains 71 species, includi ...

( Cylindrophiidae – Asian pipe snakes,

Anomochilidae The Anomochilidae, or anomochilids, are a monotypic family of snakes, created for the genus ''Anomochilus'', which currently contains three species. It is commonly called the dwarf pipe snake. Description Anomochilids are small snakes, with mus ...

– dwarf pipe snakes, and Uropeltidae – shield-tailed snakes and short-tailed snakes), three families now considered Pythonoidea ( Pythonidae – pythons,

Loxocemidae :''Common names: Mexican python, Mexican burrowing python, Mexican burrowing snake.'' ''Loxocemus bicolor'',the sole member of the monotypic family Loxocemidae, is a species of python-like snake found in Mexico and Central America. No subspecies ...

– Mexican burrowing snake, and

Xenopeltidae ''Xenopeltis'', the sunbeam snakes, are the sole genus of the monotypic family Xenopeltidae, the species of which are found in Southeast Asia. Sunbeam snakes are known for their highly iridescent scales. Two species are recognized, each one with ...

– sunbeam snakes), at least one family now considered Booidea ( Boidae – boas ncluding sand boas and many other lineages often called boas, mostly now considered subfamilies of Boidaeref name="Reynolds14"/>), and Bolyeriidae – Round Island splitjaw snakes. Because these snakes do not form a monophyletic group they can no longer be formally referred to using a single name. In modern usage, "Henophidia" is often placed in quotes, because it can be convenient to refer to all lineages that used to be considered Henophidia. Another way of thinking about it is that "henophidian" snakes are all snakes that are not Scolecophidia (blindsnakes) or

Caenophidia The Caenophidia are a derived clade of alethinophidian snakes, which contains over 80% of all the extant species of snakes. The largest family is Colubridae, but it also includes at least seven other families, at least four of which were once cl ...

(so-called "advanced snakes"). "Henophidian" snakes are sometimes said to be more "basal" or "primitive" than those belonging to the

, but this does not mean that they are inferior or that they have evolved less, rather that we think they share more traits with their common ancestor in comparison to the Caenophidia.

Etymology

''Henophidia'' comes from the Greek ''heno-'' meaning ''one'' or ''former'' and ''ophidia'' meaning ''serpent'',''-ophidia''
a
wordinfo.info
/ref> so ''former/older snakes'' (in contrast to

, i.e. ''recent snakes'').

Former families

* Aniliidae – coral pipe snakes and pipe snakes. *

– dwarf pipe snakes. * Boidae – boas (including sand boas) * Bolyeriidae – Round Island boas. * Cylindrophiidae – Asian pipe snakes. *

– Mexican burrowing snake. * Pythonidae – pythons * Tropidophiidae – dwarf boas. * Uropeltidae – shield-tailed snakes and short-tail snakes. *

– sunbeam snakes.

References

Alethinophidia {{snake-stub