Anilius

The Aniliidae are a special group of snakes that has only one family and one genus, called Anilius. This family includes just one species, Anilius scytale, which is known by names like the American pipe snake and false coral snake. You can find this snake in South America.

This snake is different from others because it has a small, leftover part near its bottom that looks like tiny legs. These are called cloacal spurs and come from its past as a creature with legs. The snake is safe because it does not have venom, and it eats mainly frogs, toads, and other small reptiles like lizards.

There are two types, or subspecies, of this snake, and scientists study them to learn more about how snakes evolved and changed over time.

Description

This snake lives in the Amazon rainforest of South America, the Guianas, and Trinidad and Tobago. It is about 70 cm (28 in) long and usually stays hidden underground. It mainly eats beetles, small burrowing amphibians, worm lizards, other small snakes, fish, and frogs. This snake hunts for food on the ground and sometimes in water at night. It has a body that is the same thickness all the way along and a very short tail. It is brightly colored in red and black, and its eyes are small and hidden under large scales on its head. This snake is thought to be very similar to what the first snakes might have looked like.

Geographic range

The American pipe snake lives in the tropical areas of northern South America. You can find it from southern and eastern Venezuela, through Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, all the way south through the Amazon Basin in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. The place where scientists first described it is called "Indiis".

Subspecies

Taxonomy

Modern classifications recognize the South American pipe snake, also known as the false coral snake (Anilius scytale), as the only species in its family. Previously, another group of snakes from Asia called Cylindrophis was included, but it is now placed in a separate family called Cylindrophiidae. The South American pipe snake is not closely related to these Asian snakes. Instead, its closest relatives seem to be some snakes from tropical regions called Tropidophiidae.