Pythonidae is a taxonomic family of non-venomous alethinophid snakes with the common name of pythons and the collateral adjective of pythonid.

The snakes in the Pythonidae family are native to the tropics and subtropics of the sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Australia (however there are a couple of infamous invasive populations of certain species in Puerto Rico and the Florida Everglades). As they do not have venom glands, pythons use the act of biting solely to grab their ambushed prey as they suffocate them via constriction. Superficially similar to boas, with Pythonidae once being misidentified as subfamily of Boidae (the former defined by Austrian zoologist Leopold Fitzinger in 1826), pythons are physically and evolutionarily distinct; unlike boas, they are oviparous and do not have as elongated supratemporal and quadrate bones.

As of 2024, there are currently 39 extant species recognized in Pythonidae across ten genii, including the type genus Python from which these snakes are named (etymologically, the Latin python comes from the Ancient Greek Πύθων (the name of a mythological scalie from Delphi slain by the god Apollo).

Despite its name, the Mexican python (Loxocemus bicolor) is not part of the Pythonidae family, however the Loxocemindae and Xenopeltidae families are the closest relatives of Pythonidae, forming the Pythonidea superfamily in the snake infraorder Alethinophida.

See also

• reptile (class: Reptilia)
• snake (suborder: Serpentes)
• alethinophidian (infraorder: Alethinophidia)
• afrophidian (clade: Afrophidia)
• pythonid (family: Pythonidae)

External links

• Wikipedia — Pythonidae