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Colubridae

Adapted from Wikipedia · Discoverer experience

A Stejneger's snail-sucker snake in its natural habitat at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica.

Colubridae, often called colubrids, is a large family of snakes. It includes 249 different groups, making it the biggest snake family in the world. The earliest known fossils of these snakes date back to a time called the Late Eocene, and scientists think they might have appeared even earlier. These snakes can be found almost everywhere, living on every continent except Antarctica.

Description

Colubrids are a very diverse group of snakes. They come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns, and they can live in many kinds of places such as water, land, trees, deserts, and mountains. Most colubrids are shy and harmless. Many of them are not venomous, and their venom does not usually harm people. However, some bites from certain colubrids, like the South African boomslang and twig snakes, as well as some Asian keelback snakes (Rhabdophis), can be very dangerous and have sometimes caused serious harm to people.

Some colubrids have special fangs at the back of their upper jaws, called opisthoglyphous. These fangs are thought to have evolved many times and may be a step toward the fangs of vipers and elapids. To use these fangs, colubrids chew on their prey. Colubrids also have other special features, such as bodies without limbs and certain types of lungs and teeth.

Reproduction

Salvadora lineata mating

Most colubrid snakes lay eggs that hatch later. The number of eggs depends on the size and type of snake. However, some snakes from the Natricinae and Colubrinae groups give birth to live babies. The number of babies they have also depends on the size and type of snake.

Classification

In the past, scientists grouped many snakes together under the name Colubridae, even if they were more closely related to other snake groups. This made Colubridae a sort of "catch-all" group for snakes that didn’t fit into other categories.

Recently, new research using molecular studies has helped scientists better understand how these snakes are related. Now, Colubridae is considered a single, distinct group of snakes. As of May 2018, eight subfamilies are recognized within this group.

Current subfamilies

Sibynophiinae – three genera

Two Indian rat snakes (grey and yellow)

Natricinae – 36 genera (sometimes given as family Natricidae)

A natricine, Thamnophis sirtalis

Pseudoxenodontinae – two genera

Dipsadinae – over 100 genera (sometimes given as family Dipsadidae)

A dipsadine, Sibon longifrenis

Grayiinae – one genus

Calamariinae – seven genera

Ahaetuliinae – five genera

Colubrinae – 93 genera

Sub-family currently undetermined

Former subfamilies

These groups used to be part of Colubridae, but are now classified differently.

Fossil record

The oldest fossils of colubrid snakes are from Thailand and the U.S. state of Georgia. These fossils come from a time called the Late Eocene. Because these snakes were found in North America very early, scientists think they might have appeared even earlier than we know. Later fossils from the Pliocene, found in the Ringold Formation in Washington, include several types of colubrid snakes such as Elaphe pliocenica, Elaphe vulpina, Lampropeltis getulus, Pituophis catenifer, a Thamnophis species, and the extinct genus Tauntonophis.

Related articles

Colubrinae
Rhabdophis
Natricinae
Thamnophis
Dipsadinae
Dipsadidae

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Colubridae, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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