Lycodon

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}}

{{Italic title}}

{{Automatic taxobox | name = Lycodon

| image = Lycodon aulicus sal.jpg

| image_caption = Lycodon aulicus

| taxon = Lycodon

| authority = Fitzinger, 1826Fitzinger LI (1826). Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K.K. zoologischen Museums zu Wien. Vienna: J.G. Heubner, five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (Lycodon, new genus, p. 57). (in German and Latin).

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

See text.

| synonyms = Cercaspis, Coluber, Leptorhytaon, Ophites, Dryocalamus, Sphecodes, Tetragonosoma, TytleriaBoulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part.. London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Genus Lycodon, p. 348, Figure 23).

}}

File:Lycodon subcinctus.jpg, Malayan banded wolfsnake, in Letefoho, East Timor]]

Lycodon is a genus of colubrid snakes, commonly known as wolf snakes.{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/ |title=Home |website=britannica.com}} The Neo-Latin name Lycodon is derived from the Greek words λύκος (lykos) meaning wolf and οδόν (odon) meaning tooth,Mish, Frederick C. (Editor in Chief) (2004). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 40a + 1,623 pp. {{ISBN|0-87779-809-5}}. ("lycopodium", p. 742; "odonate" p. 860). and refers to the fang-like anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth. They are nonvenomous, but many members of this genus strongly resemble the venomous kraits in appearance, an example of Emsleyan mimicry.

Fossil record

Fossils of Lycodon are known from the Early Pliocene of Henan.{{Cite journal |last=Shi |first=Jingsong |last2=Wang |first2=Yuan |last3=Messenger |first3=Kevin Robert |last4=Jiangzuo |first4=Qigao |last5=Chen |first5=Yu |last6=Jin |first6=Changzhu |date=2 January 2023 |title=Early Pliocene fossil snakes (Squamata, Colubroidea) with various teeth from the fissure deposit in Queshan, Henan, China |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2022.2161382 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2161382 |issn=0891-2963 |access-date=21 September 2024 |via=Taylor and Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}

Species

The genus Lycodon comprises 73 recognized species.{{cite web|url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/search?search=Lycodon&submit=Search|title=Lycodon |work=The Reptile Database|accessdate=11 June 2015|last=Uetz|first=Peter|author-link=species:Peter Uetz|last2=Hallermann|first2=Jakob|author2-link=species:Jakob Hallermann}}

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Lycodon.

In 2024, an other species of lycodon was discovered: lycodon neomaculatus, the Indochinese Banded Wolfsnake.

References

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Category:Snake genera

Category:Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger

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