Lycodon

Lycodon
Lycodon aulicus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Colubrinae
Genus: Lycodon
Fitzinger, 1826[1]
Species

See text.

Synonyms

Cercaspis, Coluber, Leptorhytaon, Ophites, Dryocalamus, Sphecodes, Tetragonosoma, Tytleria[2]

Lycodon subcinctus, Malayan banded wolfsnake, in Letefoho, East Timor

Lycodon is a genus of colubrid snakes, commonly known as wolf snakes.[3] The Neo-Latin name Lycodon is derived from the Greek words λύκος (lykos) meaning wolf and οδόν (odon) meaning tooth,[4] and refers to the fang-like anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth.[2] They are nonvenomous, but many members of this genus strongly resemble the venomous kraits in appearance, an example of Emsleyan mimicry.

  1. ^ Fitzinger LI (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K.K. zoologischen Museums zu Wien. Vienna: J.G. Heubner, five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (Lycodon, new genus, p. 57). (in German and Latin).
  2. ^ a b Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part.. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I-XXVIII. (Genus Lycodon, p. 348, Figure 23).
  3. ^ "Home". britannica.com.
  4. ^ Mish, Frederick C. (Editor in Chief) (2004). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 40a + 1,623 pp. ISBN 0-87779-809-5. ("lycopodium", p. 742; "odonate" p. 860).