Snake Multiomic Database
Family Homalopsidae (11 genera, 38 species) occur in Southern Asia from India to China and south to northern Australia. Homalopsids are distinguished from other colubroids by valvular, crescentic, dorsal nostrils; small, dorsally oriented eyes (eye diameter less than vertical distance from bottom of orbit to mouth). They have posterior sulcus teeth and well-developed venom (Duvernoy) glands, which facilitate preying.
Homalopsids are all typically aquatic snakes that live in a variety of shallow water environments including freshwater , brackish, and marine areas. They mostly prey on fishes, frogs and tadpoles, but some on crustaceans. One species Fordonia leucobalia, specializing its diet only on crab. They are small 0.20-0.38 m to large 1.4 m and all viviparous.
We estimated the emergence of Homalopsidae at ~41 Mya using fossil calibrations. Analysis reveal Colubridae, Lamprophiidae and Elapidae are the sister groups of Homalopsidae.
