Wart snakes
| Wart snakes | ||||||||||||
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Arafura wart snake ( Acrochordus arafurae ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Acrochordidae | ||||||||||||
| Bonaparte , 1831 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Acrochordus | ||||||||||||
| Hornstedt , 1787 |
The wart snakes , more rarely also elephant snakes ( Acrochordus ), are the only genus of the family of the same name within the snakes (Serpentes) with only three species that occur in Australia , India and Southeast Asia.
features
The Javanese wart snake ( Acrochordus javanicus ) can reach a maximum body length of two meters, the other two species remain significantly smaller. The body is plump and they have a pointed body shape. Their scales, which have a bumpy keel, do not have a roof-tile-like arrangement as in most snakes, but they meet directly. The skin looks like it is wrinkled. It feels rough and grainy, which is how the snakes got their name.
Underwater, they have the ability to close the nasal passages with valves on the roof of their mouth. They can also close a notch on the upper lip with a small bump on the lower lip. The eyes and nostrils are on top of the head.
Way of life
The nontoxic snakes live mainly in water, both in fresh and brackish water and in the sea (only the Indian warthog ( Acrochordus granulatus )). On land, the nocturnal snakes are very clumsy as they have no scales on their belly. They feed primarily on fish and give birth to their offspring alive and directly in the water ( ovoviviparous ).
species
The following three species that still exist form the genus and family of the wart snakes. One species that was described in Pakistan in 1964 is extinct:
- Arafura wart snake ( Acrochordus arafurae )
- Indian wart snake or dwarf wart snake ( Acrochordus granulatus )
- Javanese wart snake ( Acrochordus javanicus )
- Acrochordus dehmi †
People and warthog snakes
The skin of the wart snakes is processed into leather and the leather of the Javanese wart snakes in particular comes onto the market as karung .
literature
- Dieter Schmitt: Snakes - biology, species, terraristics. bede Verlag Ruhmannsfelden, 2006, ISBN 3-89860-115-3 .
- Roland Bauchot (Ed.): Snakes. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-1501-9 .
- Harold Cogger and Richard Zweifel (eds.): Encyclopedia of Reptiles & Amphibians. 1999, ISBN 3-8289-1559-0 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mark O'Shea et al: Herpetological Diversity of Timor-Leste Updates and a Review of species distributions. In: Asian Herpetological Research. 2015, 6 (2): pp. 73-131., Accessed on July 17, 2015.