Elapidae

Belongs within: Caenophidia.
Contains: Hydrophiinae.

The Elapidae are a pantropical family of venomous snakes, characterised by permanently erect, hollow fangs in the front of the maxilla that fit into slots on the floor of the buccal cavity when the mouth is closed (Grismer 2002). Prominent members of the Elapidae include the cobras (Naja), coral snakes (Micrurus) and the Australian venomous snakes. They also include the sea snakes, belonging to two independent lineages: the true sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) and the sea kraits (Laticauda), which return to land to lay their eggs.

<==Elapidae
    |  i. s.: Elaps [Elapinae]C07
    |           |--E. regularis [incl. Micrurus annellatus]C07
    |           `--E. simonsii [incl. Micrurus pyrrhocryptus]C07
    |         Naja Laurenti 1768B89
    |           |--N. melanoleucaWL09
    |           `--N. romani (Hoffstetter 1939)B93
    |         PalaeonajaB89
    |         Ophiophagus hannahJWC07
    |--+--Bungarus fasciatusVH02
    |  `--+--HydrophiinaeVH02
    |     |--Dendroaspis angusticepsVH02
    |     |--Elapsoidea semiannulataVH02
    |     `--Laticauda Laurenti 1768VH02, C18 [Laticaudinae]
    |          |--L. colubrina (Schneider 1799)N10
    |          |--L. crockeri Slevin 1934N10
    |          |--L. frontalis De Vis 1905N10
    |          |--L. laticaudata (Linnaeus 1758)N10
    |          |--L. schistorhynchus (Günther 1874)N10 [=Pseudolaticauda schistorhynchusC18]
    |          `--L. semifasciata (Reinwardt in Schlegel 1837)N10 [=Pseudolaticauda semifasciataC18]
    `--Micrurus Wagler 1824VH02, RB05 [incl. LeptomicrurusDS86]
         |--M. collarisDS86
         |--M. diastemaVK00
         |--M. filiformisDS86
         |    |--M. f. filiformisDS86
         |    `--M. f. subtilisDS86
         |--M. frontalisBS00
         |--M. fulviusJP79
         |--M. gallicus Rage & Holman 1984RB05
         |--M. hemprichiiDS86
         |    |--M. h. hemprichiiDS86
         |    `--M. h. ortoniDS86
         |--M. langsdorffiDS86
         |--M. lemniscatusV-MR04
         |    |--M. l. lemniscatusV-MR04
         |    |--M. l. diutus Burger 1955V-MR04
         |    `--M. l. helleriDS86
         |--M. mertensiC07
         |--M. narducci [incl. M. karlschmidti]DS86
         |--M. peruvianusC07
         |--M. putumayensisDS86
         |--M. spixiiDS86
         |    |--M. s. spixiiDS86
         |    `--M. s. obscurusDS86
         `--M. surinamensisVH02

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[B89] Bailon, S. 1989. Les amphibiens et les reptiles du Pliocene superieur de Balaruc II (Herault, France). Palaeovertebrata 19 (1): 7–28.

[B93] Benton, M. J. 1993. Reptilia. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 681–715. Chapman & Hall: London.

[BS00] Borges, M. H., A. M. Soares, V. M. Rodrigues, S. H. Andrião-Escarso, H. Diniz, A. Hamaguchi, A. Quintero, S. Lizano, J. M. Gutiérrez, J. R. Giglio & M. I. Homsi-Brandeburgo. 2000. Effects of aqueous extract of Casearia sylvestris (Flacourtiaceae) on actions of snake and bee venoms and on activity of phospholipases A₂. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 127B: 21–30.

[C07] Cadle, J. E. 2007. The snake genus Sibynomorphus (Colubridae: Dipsadinae: Dipsadini) in Peru and Ecuador, with comments on the systematics of Dipsadini. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 158 (5): 183–284.

[C18] Cogger, H. G. 2018. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia updated 7^th ed. CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood.

[DS86] Dixon, J. R. & P. Soini. 1986. The Reptiles of the Upper Amazon Basin, Iquitos Region, Peru. Milwaukee Public Museum: Milwaukee.

Grismer, L. L. 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Baja California, including its Pacific islands, and the islands in the Sea of Cortés. University of California Press.

[JP79] Jackson, J. F., & J. A. Pounds. 1979. Comments on assessing the dedifferentiating effect of gene flow. Systematic Zoology 28 (1): 78–85.

[JWC07] Jenkins, F. A., Jr, D. M. Walsh & R. L. Carroll. 2007. Anatomy of Eocaecilia micropodia, a limbed caecilian of the Early Jurassic. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 158 (6): 285–366.

[N10] Naish, D. 2010. Tetrapod Zoology: Book One. CFZ Press: Bideford (UK).

[RB05] Rage, J.-C., & S. Bailon. 2005. Amphibians and squamate reptiles from the late early Miocene (MN 4) of Béon 1 (Montréal-du-Gers, southwestern France). Geodiversitas 27 (3): 413–441.

[VH02] Vidal, N., & S. B. Hedges. 2002. Higher-level relationships of caenophidian snakes inferred from four nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Comptes Rendus Biologies 325: 987–995.

[VK00] Vidal, N., S. G. Kindl, A. Wong & S. B. Hedges. 2000. Phylogenetic relationships of xenodontine snakes inferred from 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 14: 389–402.

[V-MR04] Villarreal-Manzanilla, O., & C. J. Rodríguez. 2004. Descripción de una nueva especie y dos nuevos registros del género Stygnoplus (Opiliones, Stygnidae) para Venezuela. Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 10: 179–184.

[WL09] Walter, D. E., E. E. Lindquist, I. M. Smith, D. R. Cook & G. W. Krantz. 2009. Order Trombidiformes. In: Krantz, G. W., & D. E. Walter (eds) A Manual of Acarology 3^rd ed. pp. 233–420. Texas Tech University Press.