Elapsoidea

Elapsoidea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Elapidae
Subfamily:	Elapinae
Genus:	Elapsoidea Bocage, 1866

Elapsoidea is a genus of venomous elapid snakes commonly known as venomous garter snakes or African garter snakes. Despite the common names, they are unrelated to the harmless North American garter snake species.

Species

The following nine species are recognized.

• Elapsoidea broadleyi Jakobsen, 1997 — Broadley's garter snake — Somalia
• Elapsoidea chelazzii Lanza, 1979 — Somali garter snake — Somalia
• Elapsoidea guentherii Bocage, 1866 — Günther's garter snake — Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon
• Elapsoidea laticincta (F. Werner, 1919) — Werner's garter snake — Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Central African Republic, and Cameroon
• Elapsoidea loveridgei Parker, 1949 — Loveridge's garter snake — Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Uganda
• Elapsoidea nigra Günther, 1888 — black garter snake — Tanzania
• Elapsoidea semiannulata Bocage, 1882 — Angolan garter snake — throughout central Africa
• Elapsoidea sundevallii (A. Smith, 1848) — Sundevall's garter snake — South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Gambia
• Elapsoidea trapei Mane, 1999 — Senegal garter snake — Senegal

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Elapsoidea.

Further reading

• Bocage JVB du. 1866. "Reptiles nouveaux ou peu connus recueillis dans les possessions portugaises de l'Afrique occidentale, qui se trouvent au Muséum de Lisbonne". Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturales, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa 1: 57-78. (Elapsoides, new genus, p. 70). (in French).
• Branch, Bill. 2004. Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition. Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Genus Elapsoidea, p. 104).