THE SERPENTES
A beautiful _Corallus caninus_ picture
The Jacobson's organ Locomotion Senses Venom Eating



OK all you herpetologists and herpetoculturists out there are probably wondering why I'm using the suborder serpentes almost as an order. After all why not stick them under the squamata where they belong. The easiest answer to this is that I beleive that even with all their similiarities the snakes deserve to be seperated from the lizards. I base this on their specializations for catching their prey along with certain anatomical differences. Needless to say snakes and lizards are closely related, but not close enough for me.

The suborder serpentes comprises about 2,700 different species. They are the second largest group of reptiles. Unlike lizards, there are no snakes that have limbs. All are limbless. Still this does not limit them in any way. Snakes live in near every habitat in the world. From nice tropical forests to temperate lattitudes and even in the ocean. Some have adapted specialized stomach enzymes that they inject into their prey as venom. Others prefer to grab and constrict their prey. All in all the serpentes are a highly diverse array of creatures.

Since there are so many different species, it won't be possible for me to devote an entire page to each species or genus. So I'll probably have to do it by family. Until then this page is still under construction. Sorry.

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