Pareidae


Pareidae is a small family of snakes found largely in southeast Asia, with an isolated subfamily endemic to southwestern India. It encompasses 26 species in four genera divided into two subfamilies.
Pareidae was once considered a subfamily of Colubridae, but it is now known that pareids are not closely related to colubrids. The correct spelling is Pareidae, not Pareatidae.
Many pareids are snail-eating snakes that have asymmetrical lower jaws, allowing them to pry the soft bodies of snails from their spiral shells. One species, Pareas iwasakii, has an average of 17.5 teeth in its left mandible and 25 teeth in its right mandible. Other species lacking asymmetrical jaws, such as Aplopeltura boa and Asthenodipsas malaccanus, feed instead on slugs or lizards. Predation by pareids on dextral snails is thought to favor the evolution of sinistral snails in southeast Asia, where 12% of snail species are sinistral.

Genera and species