Eryx (snake)
Genus of snakes
title: "Eryx (snake)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["eryx-(snake)", "snake-genera", "taxa-named-by-françois-marie-daudin"] description: "Genus of snakes" topic_path: "general/eryx-snake" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eryx_(snake)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Genus of snakes ::
| fossil_range = | image = Eryx jaculus.jpg | image_caption = Javelin sand boa, E. jaculus | taxon = Eryx | authority = Daudin, 1803 | synonyms = *Clothonia Daudin, 1803
Eryx is a genus of nonvenomous snakes, commonly known as Old World sand boas, in the subfamily Erycinae of the family Boidae. Species of the genus are found in southeastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia. Thirteen species are recognized as being valid.
Description
The genus Eryx has the following characters. The head is not distinct from the neck. The dorsal surface of the head is covered with small scales. The rostral is large. The eyes range from small to very small, and the pupils are vertical. The anterior maxillary teeth and anterior mandibular teeth are longer than the posterior ones. The body is almost cylindrical. The dorsal scales are smooth or keeled. The tail is very short, either not prehensile or only slightly prehensile. The subcaudals are undivided.
Distribution and habitat
Species of snakes of the genus Eryx are found in southeastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and southwestern Asia.
Species
Nota bene: In the list below, a taxon author in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Eryx.
::data[format=table]
| Species | Taxon author | Subspecies* | Common name | Geographic range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eryx borrii | Lanza & Nistri, 2005 | 0 | Borri's sand boa | Somalia |
| Eryx colubrinus[[File:Eryx colubrinus close up.jpg | frameless | 250x250px]] | (Linnaeus, 1758) | 2 |
| Eryx conicus[[File:Russells Boa.jpg | 250px]] | (Schneider, 1801) | 0 | Rough-tailed sand boa, common sand boa |
| Eryx elegans | (Gray, 1849) | 0 | Central Asian sand boa | Southern Turkmenistan, northern Iran (the Kopet Dag Mountains in the northeast and the Azerbaijan region in the northwest) and Afghanistan |
| Eryx jaculus[[File:Eryx jaculus.jpg | 250px]] | (Linnaeus, 1758) | 0 | Javelin sand boa |
| Eryx jayakari[[File:Eryx jayakari by Omid Mozaffari.jpg | 250px]] | Boulenger, 1888 | 0 | Arabian sand boa |
| Eryx johnii[[File:Juvenile Red Sand Boa at Chittorgarh, Rajasthan.jpg | 250px]] | (Russell, 1801) | 0 | Indian sand boa |
| Eryx miliaris[[File:BennyTrapp Eryx miliaris.jpg | 250px]] | (Pallas, 1773) | 0 | Dwarf sand boa |
| Eryx muelleri[[File:Eryx muelleri.jpg | frameless | 250x250px]] | (Boulenger, 1892) | 1 |
| Eryx sistanensis | Eskandarzadeh, N. Rastegar-Pouyani, E. Rastegar-Pouyani, Zargan, Hajinourmohamadi, Nazarov, Sami, Rajabizadeh, Nabizadeh & Navaian, 2020 | 0 | Sistan sand boa | Iran |
| Eryx somalicus | Scortecci, 1939 | 0 | Somali sand boa | Somalia |
| Eryx vittatus | (Chernov, 1959) | 0 | Northern Iran, Tajikistan, northern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, and eastern China | |
| Eryx whitakeri[[File:Whitaker's Boa adult.jpg | 250px]] | Das, 1991 | 0 | Whitaker's sand boa |
| :: |
- ) Not including the nominate subspecies. T) Type species.
Fossil taxa
Two fossil species are known. The earliest is E. linxiaensis from the Miocene of Gansu, China, which appears to be the sister species to Eryx colubrinus, suggesting several intercontinental dispersals from Africa to Eurasia during the Miocene. E. primitivus is known from the middle Pliocene of Spain, and appears to be an early offshoot of the main Eryx lineage.
References
References
- [[species:Roy Wallace McDiarmid. McDiarmid RW]], [[Jonathan A. Campbell. Campbell JA]], [[species:T'Shaka A. Touré. Touré TA]] (1999). ''Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1''. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. {{ISBN. 1-893777-00-6 (series). {{ISBN. 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
- {{ITIS
- [[George Albert Boulenger. Boulenger GA]] (1893). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Boidæ'' ...'''.''' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Genus ''Eryx'', p. 122–123, Figure 7).
- [[species:Bo Beolens. Beolens B]], [[species:Michael Watkins. Watkins M]], [[species:Michael Grayson. Grayson M]] (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN. 978-1-4214-0135-5. (''Eryx borrii'', p. 32).
- Shi, Jingsong. (2023-05-01). "Evolutionary and biogeographic implications of an Erycine snake (Serpentes, Erycidae, ''Eryx'') from the Upper Miocene of the Linxia Basin, Gansu Province, China". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.
- Szyndlar, Zbigniew. (1994-01-01). "Two species of the genus ''Eryx'' (Serpentes; Boidae; Erycinae) from the Spanish Neogene with comments on the past distribution of the genus in Europe". Amphibia-Reptilia.
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