Order Squamata
Infraorder Caenophidia (Colubroidea)

Family Acrochordidae (Wart Snakes)

Only 3 species belong to this family. Appearance: Heavy-bodied snakes with skin lying loose in folds. Scales small, granular and non-overlapping, giving a rugose texture with the interstitial skin forming bristle-tipped tubercles. Adapted to aquatic lifestyle by dorsally-shifted eyes, valvular nostrils, and a flap for closing the lingual opening of the mouth. Acrochordus granulatus has a laterally compressed tail and lingual salt glands. Size: 60-180 cm snout-vent length. Distribution: Indo-Australian region Habitat: Aquatic; estuarine-marine (Acrochordus granulatus) or living in freshwater (A. arafurae, A. javanicus).

Wart Snake (Acrochordus granulatus) © Ashok Captain

Food: mainly fish.

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous with litters ranging from 2 to 32 neonates (A. javanicus). Clutch size is correlated with body size. Acrochordus granulatus: 4-8 neonates.

Behavior: Slowly moving and swimming animals which often remain under water for a considerable time. On land they can move only clumsily

Taxonomy: The systematic status of the Acrochordidae has been unclear for many years: some authors placed them within the colubrids (as a subfamily), others such as UNDERWOOD (1967) placed them within the Henophidia. More recent authors placed the acrochordids within the caenophidian radiation (GROOMBRIDGE 1984, RIEPPEL 1988).

• Acrochordus

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References:

Groombridge, B. C. 1984
The facial carotid artery in snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes) Variations and possible cladistic significance.
Amphibia-Reptilia 5: 145-155

Lillywhite, Harvey B. 1991
The biology and conservation of acrochordid snakes.
Hamadryad 16: 1-9

Murphy, J.C. 1988
An overview of the Asian file snakes, family Acrochordidae.
Chicago Herpet. Soc., Bull. 23(1): 1-4.

Rieppel, Olivier 1988
A review of the origin of snakes.
Evolutionary Biology 22: 37-130

Shine, Richard;Harlow, Peter;Keogh, J. Scott;Boeadi 1995
Biology and commercial utilization of acrochordid snakes, with special reference to Karung (Acrochordus javanicus).
Journal of Herpetology 29 (3): 352-360

Underwood, Gath 1967
A comprehensive approach to the classification of higher snakes.
Herpetologica 23 (2): 161-168

Online References:

• Bibliography of the Acrochordidae
• File Snakes (Field Museum)

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