Canadian Medical Guide > Organisms > Animals > Chordata > Vertebrates > Reptiles > Snakes Terms and Definitions

Snakes

Medical Definition:
Guide Notes:	GEN or unspecified; prefer specific families or genera; IM; qualif permitted; TN 241: common & scientific names of venomous snakes to identify specific SNAKE VENOMS terms

Snakes Categories.

	Boidae - A family of snakes comprising the boas, anacondas, and pythons. They occupy a variety of habitats through the tropics and subtropics and are arboreal, aquatic or fossorial (burrowing). Some are oviparous, others ovoviviparous. Contrary to popular opinion, they do not crush the bones of their victims: their coils exert enough pressure to stop a prey's breathing, thus suffocating it. There are five subfamilies: Boinae, Bolyerinae, Erycinae, Pythoninae, and Tropidophiinae. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, p315-320)
	Colubridae - The largest family of snakes, comprising five subfamilies: Colubrinae, Natricinae, Homalopsinae, Lycodontinae, and Xenodontinae. They show a great diversity of eating habits, some eating almost anything, others having a specialized diet. They can be oviparous, ovoviviparous, or viviparous. The majority of North American snakes are colubrines. Among the colubrids are king snakes, water moccasins, water snakes, and garter snakes. Some genera are poisonous. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, pp321-29)
	Elapidae - A family of extremely venomous snakes, comprising coral snakes, cobras, mambas, kraits, and sea snakes. They are widely distributed, being found in the southern United States, South America, Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. The elapids include three subfamilies: Elapinae, Hydrophiinae, and Lauticaudinae. Like the viperids, they have venom fangs in the front part of the upper jaw. The mambas of Africa are the most dangerous of all snakes by virtue of their size, speed, and highly toxic venom. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, p329-33)
	Hydrophidae - A family of sea snakes comprising about 50 species with flattened oar-like tails used as sculls. They are found mostly in the coastal waters of south Asia and Australia. The largest reach a length of almost 9 feet but most species are only about a third as long. They are all venomous. (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, pp331-3; Moore: Poisonous Snakes of the World, 1980, p159)
	Viperidae - A family of snakes comprising three subfamilies: Azemiopinae (the mountain viper, the sole member of this subfamily), Viperinae (true vipers), and Crotalinae (pit vipers). They are widespread throughout the world, being found in the United States, Central and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Their venoms act on the blood (hemotoxic) as compared to the venom of elapids which act on the nervous system (neurotoxic). (Goin, Goin, and Zug, Introduction to Herpetology, 3d ed, pp333-36)

Snakes Medical Definitions and Terms

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