Re: about homalopsinae in Colubridae

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Posted by WW on April 12, 2002 at 06:23:23:

In Reply to: about homalopsinae in Colubridae posted by Kaiyan Jing on April 12, 2002 at 03:08:39:

: Hi folks, could you do me favor? I'm studying the phylogeny of subfamilies in Colubridae. I wanna know why homalopsinae (Genus Enhydris) belongs to Colubridae in traditional phylogeny. Is there any morphological evidence? Could anyone tell me in detail than just a reference book? I've tried but I can't find any reference book in my Univ. It's very urgent 'cause I'm going to be graduated. The information is very important. Thank you so much!

The real reason for this is entropy: in the olden days, any advanced snake that does not have front fangs was placed into the Colubridae as a matter of routine. We now know that the "Colubridae" are an artificial assemblage, but there is no widely accepted alternative classification available at the moment. There is most probably a good case for raising the Homalopsines to the status of a full family, but this will take a lot more time and adta to sort out.

Cheers,

Wolfgang

Follow Ups:

Data that needs to be unwound ;-) BGF 04/22/02 (0)
WW, what is "adta?" Please explain. Thanks n/p Jerry Feldner 04/21/02 (2)
- A symptom of TOCITDS.. WW 04/22/02 (1)
  - Aaaaargh - for "Induces" read Induced - QED! n/p WW 04/22/02 (0)

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: : Hi folks, could you do me favor? I'm studying the phylogeny of subfamilies in Colubridae. I wanna know why homalopsinae (Genus Enhydris) belongs to Colubridae in traditional phylogeny. Is there any morphological evidence? Could anyone tell me in detail than just a reference book? I've tried but I can't find any reference book in my Univ. It's very urgent 'cause I'm going to be graduated. The information is very important. Thank you so much! : The real reason for this is entropy: in the olden days, any advanced snake that does not have front fangs was placed into the Colubridae as a matter of routine. We now know that the "Colubridae" are an artificial assemblage, but there is no widely accepted alternative classification available at the moment. There is most probably a good case for raising the Homalopsines to the status of a full family, but this will take a lot more time and adta to sort out. : Cheers, : Wolfgang

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