Atractaspididae

Common names: Mole vipers, stiletto snakes, burrowing asps.

The Atractaspididae are a family of venomous snakes found in Africa and the Middle East. Currently, 12 genera are recognized.

Description

This family includes many genera formerly classed in other families, on the basis of fang type. It includes fangless (aglyphous), rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous), fixed-fanged (proteroglyphous), and viper-like (solenoglyphous) species. Molecular and physiological data linking this family to others is ambiguous and often contradictory, which means the taxonomy of this family is highly contentious. The nominate family, Atractaspididae has itself been moved to and from other taxa, reinforcing the ambiguity of this family.

Genera

Species	Taxon author	Genus	Common name	Geographic range
Amblyodipsas	Peters, 1857	9
Aparallactus	A. Smith, 1849	11
Atractaspis	A. Smith, 1849	15	Stiletto snakes
Brachyophis	Mocquard, 1888	1
Chilorhinophis	Werner, 1907	3
Elapotinus	Jan, 1862	1
Hypoptophis	Boulenger, 1896	1
Macrelaps	Boulenger, 1896	1
Micrelaps	Boettger, 1880	3
Poecilopholis	Boulenger, 1903	1
Polemon	Jan, 1858	13
Xenocalamus	Günther, 1868	5

See also

• List of atractaspidid species and subspecies
• List of snakes, overview of all snake families and genera.
• Snakebite

References

External links