Alethinophidia

Alethinophidia
Common names: advanced snakes.
The Alethinophidia are an infraorder of snakes that includes all snakes other than blind snakes and thread snakes. Snakes have long been grouped into families within Alethinophidia based on their morphology, especially that of their teeth. More modern phylogenetic hypotheses using genetic data support the recognition of 19 extant families (see below), although the taxonomy of alethinophidian snakes has long been debated, and ultimately the decision whether to assign a particular clade to a particular Linnaean rank (such as a superfamily, family, or subfamily) is arbitrary.
Etymology
The infraorder name Alethinophidia derives from the two Ancient Greek words , meaning "truthful, genuine", and , meaning "snake".
Fossil record
Fossils of alethinophidians were found in Cenomanian (Middle Cretaceous) sites of Wadi Milk Formation in Wadi Abu Hashim, Sudan. Coniophis presents the vertebral morphology similar to modern-day Aniliidae. Two extinct families from the same location, the Anomalophiidae and Russellophiidae, also belong to the Alethinophidia. Krebsophis is the earliest russellophiid. The family Nigerophiidae includes both aquatic Nubianophis from Wadi Abu Hashim and Nigerophis from the Palaeocene of Niger. The genus Eoanilius (belongs to Aniliidae) appeared in the Eocene. It is also existed in Oligocene and early Miocene.
Systematics
Superfamily Amerophidia
Family: Aniliidae Stejneger, 1907—red pipesnake
Family: Tropidophiidae Brongersma, 1951—Caribbean dwarf "boas" or thunder snakes
Superfamily Booidea
Family: Boidae Gray, 1825—boas (see article for comments on former families or subfamilies Calabariidae/inae, Sanziniidae/inae, Charinidae/inae, Erycidae/inae, Candoiidae/inae)
Superfamily Pythonoidea
Family: Pythonidae Fitzinger, 1826—pythons
Family: Loxocemidae Cope, 1861—Mexican burrowing pythons
Family: Xenopeltidae Bonaparte, 1845—sunbeam snakes
Superfamily Uropeltoidea
Family: Uropeltidae Müller, 1832—shield-tailed snakes
Family: Cylindrophiidae Fitzinger, 1843—Asian pipe snakes
Family: Anomochilidae Cundall, Wallach and Rossman, 1993—dwarf pipe snakes
Family: Bolyeriidae Hoffstetter, 1946—Splitjaw snakes
Family: Xenophidiidae Wallach & Günther, 1998—Spine-jawed snakes
Family: Acrochordidae Bonaparte, 1831—wart or file snakes
Family: Xenodermidae Oppel, 1811—odd-scaled snakes
Family: Pareidae Oppel, 1811—snail-eating snakes
Family: Viperidae Oppel, 1811—vipers (including pit vipers)
Subfamily: Azemiopinae Liem, Marx and Rabb, 1971—Fea's viper
Subfamily: Crotalinae Oppel, 1811—pitvipers (including rattlesnakes)
Subfamily: Viperinae Oppel, 1811—true vipers
Family: Homalopsidae Günther, 1864—Asian mudsnakes
Superfamily: Elapoidea F. Boie, 1827 (merged with Colubroidea by the Reptile Database)
Family: Cyclocoridae Weinell & Brown, 2017—Philippine snakes
Family: Micrelapidae Das et al., 2023—two-headed snakes
Family: Elapidae F. Boie, 1827—Cobras, coral snakes, mambas, taipans, sea snakes, and others
Family: Pseudaspididae Cope, 1893—mole snake, western keeled snake, and mock vipers
Family: Prosymnidae Gray, 1849—shovel-snouted snakes
Family: Psammophiidae Dowling, 1967—sand snakes and allies
Family: Atractaspididae Günther, 1858—African burrowing asps, stiletto snakes, harlequin snakes
Family: Pseudoxyrhophiidae Dowling, 1975—Malagasy hognose snakes, brook snakes, and allies
Family: Lamprophiidae Fitzinger, 1843—lamprophiids
Superfamily: Colubroidea Oppel, 1811
Family: Colubridae Oppel, 1811—colubrids, typical snakes (subfamilies sometimes considered distinct families)
Subfamily: Sibynophiinae Dunn, 1928—hinged-teeth snakes
Subfamily: Natricinae Bonaparte, 1838—keelbacks
Subfamily: Pseudoxenodontinae McDowell, 1987
Subfamily: Dipsadinae Bonaparte, 1838
See also
Scolecophidia, blind snakes, thread snakes.
List of snakes, overview of all snake genera.
References
External links
Alethinophidia at Palaeos. Accessed 14 August 2007.
Cenomanian first appearances
Extant Cretaceous first appearances
Taxa named by Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás