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The Elapidae family of venomous snakes includes the cobras, mambas, kraits, sea snakes and coral snakes, as well as all the venomous snakes of Australia (taipans, brown snakes, death adders, etc). The Elapids have hollow fangs located at the front of the mouth, but these fangs cannot be erected like those of the true vipers belonging to the Viperidae family. Instead, Elapids must actually bite their prey instead of stabbing at it like a true viper.
Note: some authors place the sea snakes in a separate family, Hydrophiidae.
The type genus was originally called Elaps, but it was moved to another family. When this happens in botany, the family is renamed, but here, the genus was renamed Homoroselaps. It was later moved back to Elapidae, but not to the subfamily Elapinae.
The most venomous snake on Earth is the Fierce Snake.
External link
- genera source (http://www.embl-heidelberg.de/~uetz/families/Elapidae.html)
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