Boaedon
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2025) |
| Boaedon | |
|---|---|
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| Boaedon lineatus, striped house snake | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Lamprophiidae |
| Subfamily: | Lamprophiinae |
| Genus: | Boaedon A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854 |
| Species | |
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27 recognized species, see text. | |
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.[1] 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.[1]
Species
[edit]There are 27 species placed within the genus Boaedon,[2] with new and updated ones occasionally being described.
- Boaedon angolensis (Bocage, 1895) – Angolan house snake
- Boaedon arabicus H. Parker, 1930
- Boaedon bedriagae Boulenger, 1905[3]
- 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[3]
- 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
[edit]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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed].
Geographic range
[edit]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.[citation needed]
External links
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References
[edit]- ^ a b Kelly, Christopher M.R.; Branch, William R.; Broadley, Donald G.; Barker, Nigel P.; Villet, Martin H. (2011). "Molecular systematics of the African snake family Lamprophiidae, Fitzinger, 1843 (Serpentes: Elapoidea), with particular focus on the genera Lamprophis Fitzinger 1843 and Mehelya Csiki 1903". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 58 (3): 415–426. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.11.010
- ^ Genus Boaedon at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ a b Ceríaco, Luis M.P.; Arellano, Ana Lisette; Jadin, Robert C.; Marques, Mariana P.; Parrinha, Diogo; Hallermann, Jakob (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. 70 (1): 1–31. Bibcode:2021AfJH...70....1C. doi:10.1080/21564574.2020.1832152. ISSN 2156-4574. S2CID 234262958.