Henophidia
Henophidia | |
---|---|
Burmese python, Python bivittatus
| |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Suborder: | Serpentes |
Clade: | Afrophidia |
Superfamily: | Henophidia |
Henophidia is a former superfamily of the suborder Serpentes (snakes) that contains boas, pythons and numerous other less-well-known snakes.[1]
Snakes once considered to belong to superfamily Henophidia include two families now considered
Because these snakes do not form a monophyletic group[1] they can no longer be formally referred to using a single name[citation needed]. 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 (so-called "advanced snakes"). "Henophidian" snakes are sometimes said to be more "basal" or "primitive" than those belonging to the Caenophidia, 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.[2]
Etymology
Henophidia comes from the
Former families
- Aniliidae– coral pipe snakes and pipe snakes.
- Anomochilidae– dwarf pipe snakes.
- Boidae – boas (including sand boas)
- Bolyeriidae – Round Island boas.
- Cylindrophiidae– Asian pipe snakes.
- Loxocemidae– Mexican burrowing snake.
- Pythonidae – pythons
- Tropidophiidae – dwarf boas.
- Uropeltidae – shield-tailed snakes and short-tail snakes.
- Xenopeltidae– sunbeam snakes.
References
- ^ PMID 24315866. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2018-05-14.
- ^ a b Scanlon, J. D.; Lee, M. S. Y. (2011). Aldridge, R. D.; Sever, D. M. (eds.). The Major Clades of Living Snakes: Morphological Evolution, Molecular Phylogeny, and Divergence Dates in Reproductive Biology and Phylogeny of Snakes. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers. pp. 55–95.
- ^ Vitt, L. J.; Caldwell, J. P. (2014). Herpetology: an introductory biology of amphibians and reptiles (4th ed.). Burlington: Academic Press. pp. 108–109.
- ISBN 9780470015902.
- ^ heno- at wordinfo.info
- ^ -ophidia at wordinfo.info