SNAKES

Snake
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This article is about the animal. For other uses, see Snake (disambiguation).
SnakeFossil range: 145–0 Ma
PreЄ
Cretaceous – Recent

Spotted PythonAntaresia maculosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Subphylum:
Vertebrata
Class:
Sauropsida
Subclass:
Diapsida
Infraclass:
Lepidosauromorpha
Superorder:
Lepidosauria
Order:
Squamata
Suborder:
SerpentesLinnaeus, 1758

World range of snakes(rough range of sea snakes in blue)
Infraorders and Families
Alethinophidia – Nopcsa, 1923
Acrochordidae – Bonaparte, 1831
Aniliidae – Stejneger, 1907
Anomochilidae – Cundall, Wallach & Rossman, 1993
Atractaspididae – Günther, 1858
Boidae – Gray, 1825
Bolyeriidae – Hoffstetter, 1946
Colubridae – Oppel, 1811
Cylindrophiidae – Fitzinger, 1843
Elapidae – F. Boie, 1827
Loxocemidae – Cope, 1861
Pythonidae – Fitzinger, 1826
Tropidophiidae – Brongersma, 1951
Uropeltidae – Müller, 1832
Viperidae – Oppel, 1811
Xenopeltidae – Bonaparte, 1845
Scolecophidia – Cope, 1864
Anomalepididae – Taylor, 1939
Leptotyphlopidae – Stejneger, 1892
Typhlopidae – Merrem, 1820
A snake is an elongate reptile of the suborder Serpentes. Like all reptiles, snakes are covered in scales. All snakes are carnivorous and can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids, hind limbs, external ears, and the presence of only vestigial forelimbs. The 2,700+ species of snakes spread across every continent except Antarctica ranging in size from the tiny, 10 cm long thread snake to pythons and anacondas at 9 m (30 ft) long. In order to accommodate snakes' narrow bodies, paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side.
While venomous snakes comprise a minority of the species, some possess potent venom capable of causing painful injury or death to humans. However, venom in snakes is primarily for killing and subduing prey rather than for self-defense. Snakes may have evolved from a lizard which adapted to burrowing during the Cretaceous period (c 150 Ma), though some scientists have postulated an aquatic origin. The diversity of modern snakes appeared during the Paleocene period (c 66 to 56 Ma).
A literary word for snake is serpent (a Middle English word which comes from Old French, and ultimately from *serp-, "to creep"[1], also ερπω in Greek). The serpent is also a symbol of the healing arts.