Tachymenis

Tachymenis
Tachymenis peruviana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Colubridae
Subfamily: Dipsadinae
Genus: Tachymenis
Wiegmann, 1835
Species

See text.

Tachymenis is a genus of venomous snakes belonging to the family Colubridae. Species in the genus Tachymenis are commonly known as slender snakes or short-tailed snakes and are primarily found in southern South America. Tachymenis are rear-fanged (opisthoglyphous) and are capable of producing a medically significant bite, with at least one species, T. peruviana, responsible for human fatalities.[1]

Species

The following species are recognized by the Reptile Database.[2]

References

  1. ^ Mackessy, Stephen P. (June 2002). "Biochemistry and pharmacology of colubrid snake venoms". Journal of Toxicology: Toxin Reviews. 21 (1–2): 43–83. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.596.5081. doi:10.1081/TXR-120004741. S2CID 86568032. Most [colubrids] may not produce a venom capable of causing serious damage to humans, but at least five species (Dispholidus typus, Thelotornis capensis, Rhabdophis tigrinus, Philodryas olfersii and Tachymenis peruviana) have caused human fatalities.
  2. ^ "Tachymenis ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading

Wikispecies has information related to Tachymenis.
  • Boulenger GA (1896). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume III., Containing the Colubridæ (Opisthoglyphæ and Proteroglyphæ) ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiv + 727 pp. + Plates I-XXV. (Genus Tachymenis, pp. 117–118; T. peruviana, p. 118; T. affinis, new species, p. 119 + Plate VII, figure 1 [three views]).
  • Freiberg M (1982). Snakes of South America. Hong Kong: T.F.H. Publications. 189 pp. ISBN 0-87666-912-7. (Tachymenis, pp. 75, 76, 111).
  • Wiegmann AFA (1835). "Beiträge zur Zoologie, gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erde, von Dr. F.J.F. Meyen, siebente Abhandlung. Amphibien ". Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae 17: 185-268. (Tachymenis, new genus, pp. 251–252; T. peruviana, new species, pp. 252–253 + Plate XX, figure 1). (in German and Latin).