Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Snake
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
{{Short description|Limbless, scaly, elongate reptile}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{About|the reptile||Snake (disambiguation)}} {{Improve|reason=uncited text, undue weight and bad structure|date=June 2024}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = <br/>[[Late Cretaceous]] – [[Holocene|Present]],<ref name=snake_origin_ecology/> {{Fossil range|94|0|earliest=112|latest=|PS=}} | image= Trimeresurus sabahi fucatus, Banded pit viper - Takua Pa District, Phang-nga Province (46710893582).jpg | image_caption = ''[[Trimeresurus sabahi]]'' | taxon = Serpentes | authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]] | range_map = World distribution of snakes.svg | range_map_caption = <small>Approximate world distribution of snakes, all species</small> | subdivision_ranks = Infraorders | subdivision = {{Linked taxon list | Alethinophidia | Nopcsa, 1923 | Scolecophidia | [[Edward Drinker Cope|Cope]], 1864 }} }} '''Snakes''' are elongated [[Limbless vertebrate|limbless]] [[reptile]]s of the [[suborder]] '''Serpentes''' ({{IPAc-en|s|3r|'|p|E|n|t|iː|z}}).<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Reeder TW, Townsend TM, Mulcahy DG, Noonan BP, Wood PL, Sites JW, Wiens JJ |title=Integrated analyses resolve conflicts over squamate reptile phylogeny and reveal unexpected placements for fossil taxa |journal=[[PLOS ONE]] |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=e0118199 |year=2015 |pmid=25803280 |pmc=4372529 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0118199 |bibcode=2015PLoSO..1018199R |doi-access=free|issn=1932-6203}}</ref> Cladistically [[Squamata|squamates]], snakes are [[ectothermic]], [[amniote]] [[vertebrate]]s covered in overlapping [[Scale (zoology)|scales]] much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their [[lizard]] ancestors and relatives, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads ([[cranial kinesis]]). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most only have one functional [[lung]]. Some species retain a [[pelvic girdle]] with a pair of [[vestigial]] claws on either side of the [[cloaca]]. Lizards have independently evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs at least twenty-five times via [[convergent evolution]], leading to many lineages of [[legless lizard]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wiens JJ, Brandley MC, Reeder TW |title=Why does a trait evolve multiple times within a clade? Repeated evolution of snakelike body form in squamate reptiles |journal=Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=123–41 |date=January 2006 |pmid=16568638 |doi=10.1554/05-328.1 |s2cid=17688691 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/13623/files/PAL_E653.pdf |access-date=21 January 2023 |archive-date=2 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230202043249/https://doc.rero.ch/record/13623/files/PAL_E653.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal (see [[Amphisbaenia]], [[Dibamidae]], and [[Pygopodidae]]). Living snakes are found on every continent except Antarctica, and on most smaller land masses; exceptions include some large islands, such as Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, and the islands of New Zealand, as well as many small islands of the Atlantic and central Pacific oceans.<ref name=Bauchot>{{cite book |editor-first=Roland |editor-last=Bauchot |title=Snakes: A Natural History |url=https://archive.org/details/snakesnaturalhis0000bauc/page/220 |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4027-3181-5 |page= 220}}</ref> Additionally, [[sea snake]]s are widespread throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans. Around thirty [[Family (biology)|families]] are currently recognized, comprising about 520 [[Genus|genera]] and about more than 4,170 [[species]].<ref name="NRDB-Cs">{{cite web |editor-last1=Uetz |editor-first1=Peter |editor-last2=Hallermann |editor-first2=Jakob |title=Search results for Higher taxa: snake |url=https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?taxon=snake&submit=Search |access-date=7 February 2025 |website=The Reptile Database |publisher=Hamburg Museum of Zoology }}</ref> They range in size from the tiny, {{convert|10.4|cm|in|abbr=on|adj=mid|-long}} [[Barbados threadsnake]]<ref name="zootaxa"/> to the [[reticulated python]] of {{convert|6.95|m|ft|sp=us}} in length.<ref name="SunBear">{{cite journal |last=Fredriksson |first=G. M. |title=Predation on Sun Bears by Reticulated Python in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo |journal=Raffles Bulletin of Zoology |volume=53 |issue=1 |year=2005 |pages=165–168 |url=http://dare.uva.nl/document/161117 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140709001708/http://dare.uva.nl/document/161117 |archive-date=July 9, 2014}}</ref> The fossil species ''[[Titanoboa|Titanoboa cerrejonensis]]'' was {{convert|12.8|m|ft|sp=us}} long.<ref name="head"/> Snakes are thought to have evolved from either burrowing or aquatic lizards, perhaps during the [[Jurassic]] period, with the earliest known fossils dating to between 143 and 167 [[Mega-annum|Ma]] ago.<ref>{{cite web |last=Perkins |first=Sid |name-list-style=vanc |date = 27 January 2015 |title=Fossils of oldest known snakes unearthed |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/fossils-oldest-known-snakes-unearthed |website=news.sciencemag.org |access-date=29 January 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150130043614/http://news.sciencemag.org/paleontology/2015/01/fossils-oldest-known-snakes-unearthed |archive-date=30 January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Caldwell MW, Nydam RL, Palci A, Apesteguía S |title=The oldest known snakes from the Middle Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous provide insights on snake evolution |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=6 |pages=5996 |date=January 2015 |pmid=25625704 |doi=10.1038/ncomms6996 |number=5996 |bibcode=2015NatCo...6.5996C |doi-access=free|hdl=11336/37995 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the [[Paleocene]] epoch ({{circa}} 66 to 56 Ma ago, after the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]]). The oldest preserved descriptions of snakes can be found in the [[Brooklyn Papyrus]]. Most species of snake are nonvenomous and [[Venomous snake|those that have venom]] use it primarily to kill and subdue prey rather than for self-defense. Some possess venom that is potent enough to cause painful injury or death to humans. Nonvenomous snakes either swallow prey alive or kill by [[constriction]].
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)