Uropeltoidea
The Uropeltoidea, also known as uropeltoid snakes, are a superfamily of snakes that contains uropeltids (family Uropeltidae) and Asian pipesnakes (families Cylindrophiidae and Anomochilidae).
| Uropeltoidea | |
|---|---|
| Uropeltis maculata (Uropeltidae) | |
| Cylindrophis rufus (Cylindrophiidae) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Infraorder: | Alethinophidia |
| Superfamily: | Uropeltoidea J.P. Müller, 1832 |
| Families | |
As of 2018, Uropeltoidea contains 71 species, including the eponymous shield-tail snakes (genus Uropeltis with 23 species) and their relatives (32 species in 6 other genera), 13 species of Asian pipesnakes (genus Cylindrophis), and 3 species of dwarf pipesnakes (genus Anomochilus).
The taxonomy of boas, pythons, and other henophidian snakes has long been debated, and ultimately the decision whether to assign a particular clade to a particular Linnaean rank (such as a superfamily, family, or subfamily) is arbitrary. The clade name Uropeltoidea emphasizes the relatively close evolutionary relationship among these 71 species, which last shared a common ancestor about 48 [CI:36–60] million years ago, in contrast to the more distant relationship between uropeltoids and their next closest relatives, pythonoids (the most recent common ancestor between uropeltoids and pythonoids lived ~73 [CI:59–87] million years ago).