The Acrochordidae, commonly known as wart snakes,
Description
All are entirely
aquatic animal, lacking the broad belly-scales found in most other snakes and possessing dorsally located eyes. Their most notable feature is their skin and scales. The skin is loose and baggy, giving the impression of being several sizes too large for the snake, and the scales, rather than overlapping, are tiny pyramidal projections that led to their common names.
This type of snake are ambush predators, lurking at the bottom of rivers, streams and estuaries, and waiting for fish to approach, which they grip with their coils. The rough scales allow them to hold the fish despite the mucus coating. Adults grow to between 60 cm and 2.43 m in length.
Geographic range
Found from western
India and
Sri Lanka through tropical
Southeast Asia to the
Philippines, south through the
island group to
Timor, east through
New Guinea to the northern coast of Australia to
Mussau Island, the Bismarck Archipelago and Guadalcanal Island in the
Solomon Islands.
Commercial exploitation
These animals are rapidly becoming rare as their hides are used for handbags and leather (stripped of scales, of course). Numerous attempts have been made by both zoos and private reptile collectors to keep them, but in all cases, they have been reluctant to feed and prone to skin infections.
Taxonomy
There are many synonyms for the family Acrochordidae including:
[McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. (series). (volume).]
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Acrochordina Bonaparte, 1831
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Acrochordidae Bonaparte, 1840
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Acrochorniens A.M.C. Duméril, 1853
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Acrochordidae Jan, 1863
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Acrochordinae Boulenger, 1893
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Acrochordoidae McDowell, 1975
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Acrochordini Dowling & Duellman, 1978
There are also many synonyms for the genera Acrochordus including:
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Acrochordus Hornstedt, 1787
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Chersydrus Cuvier, 1817
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Chersidrus Oken, 1817
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Acrochordus Gray, 1825
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Chersydreas Gray, 1825
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Chershydrus Bonaparte, 1831
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Verrucator Schlegel, 1837
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Chersydraeas Gray, 1849
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Potamophis Schmidt, 1852
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Chersydraeus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854
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Acrochordus Boulenger, 1893
Species
|
Arafura file snake | Acrochordus arafurae
McDowell, 1979 | | New Guinea and northern Australia. | |
Little wart snake[ Western Australian Reptile Species at Frank O'Connor's Birding Western Australia. Accessed 20 September 2007] | Acrochordus granulatus
(Schneider, 1799) | | Peninsular India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Andaman Islands, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and coastal northern Australia. | |
Elephant trunk snake | Acrochordus javanicus
Hornstedt, 1787 | | Southeast Asia from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, south through Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra, Java and Borneo). | |
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