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Boaedon

Genus of snakes

Boaedon is a genus of snakes, commonly known as brown house snakes, in the family Lamprophiidae. The genus is native to Africa, and was originally described by French zoologists André Marie Constant Duméril, Gabriel Bibron, and Auguste Duméril. However, the species contained in the genus Boaedon were reclassified as belonging to the genus Lamprophis, which had been described by Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1843. This taxonomy remained widely accepted until November 2010 when a phylogenetic study was published by South African herpetologist Christopher M.R. Kelly et al. who resurrected the Boaedon clade. Primary literature usually lists Boaedon and related genera as belonging to the family Lamprophiidae within the superfamily Elapoidea, the superfamily which includes the venomous cobras and mambas.

Species

There are 27 species placed within the genus Boaedon, with new and updated ones occasionally being described.

Boaedon angolensis (Bocage, 1895) – Angolan house snake
Boaedon arabicus H. Parker, 1930
Boaedon bedriagae Boulenger, 1905
Boaedon bocagei Hallermann, Ceríaco, Schmitz, R. Ernst, Conradie, Verburgt, Marques & Bauer, 2020 – Bocage's brown house snake
Boaedon branchi Hallermann, Ceríaco, Schmitz, R. Ernst, Conradie, Verburgt, Marques & Bauer, 2020 – Branch's brown house snake
Boaedon broadleyi Hallermann & Hawlitschek, 2025
Boaedon capensis A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 – Cape house snake
Boaedon fradei Hallermann, Ceríaco, Schmitz, R. Ernst, Conradie, Verburgt, Marques & Bauer, 2020 – Frade's brown house snake
Boaedon fuliginosus (F. Boie, 1827) – brown house snake
Boaedon geometricus (Schlegel, 1837) – Seychelles house snake
Boaedon lineatus A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 – striped house snake
Boaedon littoralis J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – coastal house snake
Boaedon longilineatus J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – long-lined house snake
Boaedon maculatus H. Parker, 1932 – dotted house snake
Boaedon mendesi Ceríaco, Arellano, Jadin, Marques, Parrinha & Hallermann, 2021
Boaedon mentalis (Günther, 1888) – Namibian house snake
Boaedon montanus J.-F. Trape, Mediannikov, He. Hinkel & Ha. Hinkel, 2022
Boaedon olivaceus (A.H.A. Duméril, 1856) – olive house snake
Boaedon paralineatus J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016
Boaedon perisilvestris J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – Central African lined house snake
Boaedon radfordi Greenbaum, Portillo, K. Jackson & Kusamba, 2015 – Radford's house snake
Boaedon subflavus J.-F. Trape & Mediannikov, 2016 – yellow house snake
Boaedon subniger Hallermann & Hawlitschek, 2025
Boaedon subtaeniatus Laurent, 1954
Boaedon upembae (Laurent, 1954)
Boaedon variegatus (Bocage, 1867)
Boaedon virgatus (Hallowell, 1854) – Hallowell's house snake

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Boaedon.

Appearance

All members of the genus Boaedon are small snakes, generally attaining a total length (tail included) of little more than 4 feet (120 cm). A sexually dimorphic genus, female Boaedon snakes are always larger than males of the same age, which attain a total length of only approximately 2 feet (60 cm). There is some variance between species and between geographic locales of species.

Adult female "patternless" ''Boaedon capensis''

Overall body colouration is typically sandy brown to black, but green, orange, red and a variety of other locale specific variations do exist. All species are nocturnal by nature and have a vertically elliptic pupil. They also have with few exceptions a v-shaped set of stripes stretching from the rostral scale through the eye to the rear of the head. Body pattern varies among species. B. olivaceus, B. upembae, B. mentalis, and B. fuliginosus are all naturally patternless. B. capensis and B. maculatus both have patternless variants, and B. lineatus typically has lateral striping running the length of the body. These are highly variable snakes and confusion is common when attempting to distinguish one species from another..

Geographic range

Species of brown house snakes of the genus Boaedon occur in all of sub-Saharan Africa, inhabiting dense forests and deserts as well as all other habitats in between. They are commonly found around towns where they will feast on the rodents which gather there.

References

[[species:Christopher M.R. Kelly. Kelly, Christopher M.R.]]; [[William Roy Branch. Branch, William R.]]; [[Donald George Broadley. Broadley, Donald G.]]; [[species:Nigel P. Barker. Barker, Nigel P.]]; [[species:Martin Herrer Villet. Villet, Martin H.]] (2011). "Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae, Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera ''Lamprophis'' [[Leopold Fitzinger. Fitzinger]] 1843 and ''Mehelya'' [[Ernő Csíki. Csiki]] 1903". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' '''58''' (3): 415–426. {{doi. 10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.010
{{EMBL genus
(2021). "Taxonomic revision of the ''Jita'' snakes (Lamprophiidae: ''Boaedon'') from São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea), with the description of a new species". African Journal of Herpetology.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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snakes-of-africa snake-genera lamprophiidae taxa-named-by-andré-marie-constant-duméril taxa-named-by-gabriel-bibron taxa-named-by-auguste-duméril

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