| Popis: |
Some of the facts presented in this paper have been known so long that they can almost be said to have been forgotten. They are enshrined (or perhaps mummified) in generic names such as Cochliophagus 1853 (snail-eater), Leptognathus 1853 (delicate jaw), Stremmatognathus 1853 (twisted jaw), Asthenognathus 1854 (jaw without strength). These facts, and the problem posed by them to students of evolution, are our present knowledge of the structure, behavior, and relative abundance of the arboreal, nocturnal, and malacophagous snakes of the American Tropics, and their evolutionary relationship to other snakes in the American Tropics. While many generic names have been proposed for these snakes, Dipsas 1763 is the oldest, and it will be used (without prejudice) for the lot in this discussion. There are some 45 species. Some, but not all, of the structural facts were known to Boulenger, the most re-, cent reviser of snakes on a global basis. In 1896 he used the family name Amblycephalidae for Dipsas and some similar east Asiatic snakes. |
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