Pareatinae

Pareas carinatus

The Pareatidae are one occurring in northeast India, Southeast Asia, China, Taiwan and Japan family of small snakes, which specializes in the predation of snails.

Features

The Pareatidae it These are all small to medium sized, snake -like snakes. The largest species, Aplopeltura boa, reaches a length of 70 to 80 cm. Some of the morphological characteristics of the Pareatidae are also found in the snail -eating snakes of the viper subfamily Dipsadinae and emerged in adapting to this unusual for snakes food convergent in both taxa. In the past, therefore the species and genera of Pareatidae were counted among the Dipsadinae.

The jaws of Pareatidae are short and strong. The teeth are long and narrow, the anterior part of the maxilla is toothless. The piano legs have no contact with the lower jaw bone and the square leg. A special persons related to the salivary gland muscle causes the secretion of the secretion. The hemipenes is very deeply forked, each hemipenis is surrounded by an unusual ring of tissue. As with the Dipsadinae is at the Pareatidae not the right, but the left lung is reduced, in contrast to the Dipsadinae is from the right, however, still a vestige left.

System

The Pareatidae are one of seven families within the superfamily of vipers and viper -like ( Colubroidae ). The systematics of snakes is still the subject of current investigations. After pyrone et al. arises within the Colubroidae following system:

Vipers ( Viperidae )

Snakes ( Colubridae )

Poison snakes ( Elapidae )

Lamprophiidae

Water phantom snakes ( Homalopsidae )

Pareatidae

Hump ​​snakes ( Xenodermatidae )

Within the family of Pareatidae there are three genera with 15 species:

• Genus Aplopeltura Duméril, 1853 Narrow-headed worm snake ( boa Aplopeltura ) ( Boie, 1828)

• Spotted Worm Snake ( Asthenodipsas laevis) ( Boie, 1827)
• Malay worm snake ( Asthenodipsas malaccanus ) Peters, 1864
• Snails Snake ( Asthenodipsas vertebral ) ( Boulenger, 1900)

• Pareas boulengeri (Angel, 1920)
• Keeled worm snake ( Pareas carinatus ) ( Boie, 1828)
• Pareas chinensis ( Barbour, 1912)
• Pareas formosensis ( Van Denburgh, 1909)
• Hamptons worm snake ( Pareas hamptoni ) ( Boulenger, 1905)
• Pareas iwasakii ( Maki, 1937)
• White spots worm snake ( Pareas margaritophorus ) ( Jan, 1866)
• Pareas monticola ( Cantor, 1839)
• Pareas nigriceps Guo & Deng, 2009
• Pareas nuchalis Boulenger, 1900
• Pareas stanleyi ( Boulenger, 1914)