Amerophidia

The Amerophidia, also known as amerophidian snakes, are a superfamily of snakes that contains two families: Aniliidae (containing a single species, Anilius scytale, the red pipesnake) and the boa-like Tropidophiidae (containing 2 genera, Trachyboa with 2 species and Tropidophis with 32).[1]

Amerophidia
An amerophidian snake, the false coral snake (Anilius scytale)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Infraorder: Alethinophidia
Clade: Amerophidia
Families

The sister-group relationship between these two families is surprising and unintuitive when only morphology is considered, because Aniliidae more closely resemble Asian pipesnakes in the families Cylindrophiidae and Anomochilidae, whereas Tropidophiidae more closely resemble constricting, macrostomatan snakes such as Boidae and Pythonoidea. However, every major phylogenetic analysis since 2007[2][3][4][5] has found support for the idea that these two families are one anothers' closest relatives, despite having last shared a common ancestor about 91 MYA [CI: 77-104].[6]

References
  1. Uetz, Peter. "Tropidophiidae at The Reptile Database". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 13 May 2018.
  2. Figueroa, A.; McKelvy, A. D.; Grismer, L. L.; Bell, C. D.; Lailvaux, S. P. (2016). "A species-level phylogeny of extant snakes with description of a new colubrid subfamily and genus". PLOS ONE. 11 (9): e0161070. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1161070F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0161070. PMC 5014348. PMID 27603205.
  3. Zheng, Y; Wiens, JJ (2016). "Combining phylogenomic and supermatrix approaches, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for squamate reptiles (lizards and snakes) based on 52 genes and 4162 species". Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution. 94 (Pt B): 537–547. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.10.009. PMID 26475614.
  4. Gower, D. J.; Vidal, N.; Spinks, J. N.; McCarthy, C. J. (2005). "The phylogenetic position of Anomochilidae (Reptilia: Serpentes), first evidence from DNA sequences". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 43 (4): 315–320. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2005.00315.x.
  5. Reynolds, R. G.; Niemiller, M. L.; Revell, L. J. (2014). "Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and pythons: Multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution. 71: 201–213. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.011. PMID 24315866. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2018-05-13.
  6. Hedges, SB; Marin, J; Suleski, M; Paymer, M; Kumar, S (2015). "Tree of Life Reveals Clock-Like Speciation and Diversification". Mol Biol Evol. 32 (4): 835–845. doi:10.1093/molbev/msv037. PMC 4379413. PMID 25739733.


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