''Ninia'' is a
genus of
snakes,
commonly referred to as coffee snakes, in the
family Colubridae
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...
of the superfamily
Colubroidea. The
genus consists of 10
species that are native to
Mexico,
Central America, and the northern part of
South America. Some species are also found on the
Caribbean islands
Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands are re ...
.
Species
There are currently 11 recognized species:
[ www.reptile-database.org.]
''
Nota bene'': A
binomial authority
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Ninia''.
References
Further reading
*
Baird SF,
Girard C (1853). ''Catalogue of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I.—Serpents''. Washington, District of Columbia: xvi + 172 pp. (''Ninia'', new genus, pp. 49–50).
*
Freiberg M (1982). ''Snakes of South America''. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. . (Genus ''Ninia'', p. 104).
Colubrids
Snake genera
Taxa named by Spencer Fullerton Baird
Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard
{{Colubrids-stub