Pareidae is a small
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
s found largely in southeast Asia, with an isolated
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to southwestern
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It encompasses 42 species in four
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
divided into two subfamilies: Pareinae and Xylophiinae. Both families are thought to have diverged from one another during the early-mid
Eocene
The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...
, about 40-50 million years ago.
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 ...
(called "Pareatinae"), but it is now known that pareids are not closely related to colubrids. The correct spelling is Pareidae, not Pareatidae.
Members of the subfamily Pareinae are active, predatory snakes. Many are snail
A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...
-eating snakes that have asymmetrical lower jaws, allowing them to pry the soft bodies of snails from their spiral shells. One species, ''Pareas iwasakii'', has an average of 17.5 teeth in its left mandible and 25 teeth in its right mandible.
Genera and species
*Subfamily Pareinae
**'' Aplopeltura'' (1 species)
**'' Asthenodipsas'' (9 species)
**''Pareas
''Pareas'' is a genus of Asian snakes in the family Pareidae. All species in the genus ''Pareas'' are harmless to humans.
Species
''Pareas'' contains the following species: (''Pareas menglaensis'', new species). (''Pareas kaduri'', new species) ...
'' (27 species)
* Subfamily Xylophiinae
** ''Xylophis
''Xylophis'' is a small genus of snakes in the family Pareidae. The genus contains five species, all of which are endemic to the Western Ghats in southern India. They constitute the monotypic subfamily Xylophiinae. They are the only pareid sn ...
'' (5 species)
References
External links
Pareids at Life is Short, but Snakes are Long
Pareids at The Reptile Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q143731
Snake families
Snakes of Asia
Taxa named by Alfred Romer