Lycodon

{{Short description|Genus of snakes}} {{Italic title}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = ''Lycodon'' | image = Lycodon aulicus sal.jpg | image_caption = ''Lycodon aulicus'' | taxon = Lycodon | authority = Fitzinger, 1826<ref>Fitzinger LI (1826). ''Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften. Nebst einer Verwandtschafts-tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K.K. zoologischen Museums zu Wien''. Vienna: J.G. Heubner, five unnumbered + 67 pp. + one plate. (''Lycodon'', new genus, p. 57). (in German and Latin).</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text. | synonyms = ''Cercaspis, Coluber, Leptorhytaon, Ophites, Dryocalamus, Sphecodes, Tetragonosoma, Tytleria''<ref name="Blgr1893">Boulenger GA (1893). ''Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History), Volume I., Containing the Families ... Colubridæ Aglyphæ, part.'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Genus ''Lycodon'', p. 348, Figure 23).</ref> }}

[[File:Lycodon subcinctus.jpg|thumb|''Lycodon subcinctus'', Malayan banded wolfsnake, in Letefoho, East Timor]]

'''''Lycodon''''' is a genus of snakes, commonly known as '''wolf snakes''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/ |title=Home |website=britannica.com}}</ref> in the subfamily Colubrinae of the family Colubridae.The Neo-Latin name ''Lycodon'' is derived from the Greek words λύκος (''lykos'') meaning wolf and οδόν (''odon'') meaning tooth,<ref>Mish, Frederick C. (Editor in Chief) (2004). ''Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition''. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. 40a + 1,623 pp. {{ISBN|0-87779-809-5}}. ("lycopodium", p. 742; "odonate", p. 860).</ref> and refers to the fang-like anterior maxillary and mandibular teeth.<ref name="Blgr1893"/> The species in the genus ''Lycodon'' are nonvenomous, but many members strongly resemble the venomous kraits (genus ''Bungarus'') in appearance, an example of Batesian mimicry.

== Fossil record == Fossils of ''Lycodon'' are known from the Early Pliocene of Henan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Shi |first1=Jingsong |author1-link=species:Jing-Song Shi |last2=Wang |first2=Yuan |author2-link=Wang Yuan (palaeontologist) |last3=Messenger |first3=Kevin Robert |author3-link=species:Kevin R. Messenger |last4=Jiangzuo |first4=Qigao |last5=Chen |first5=Yu |author5-link=species:Yu Chen |last6=Jin |first6=Changzhu |author6-link=species:Chang-Zhu Jin |date=2023 |title=Early Pliocene fossil snakes (Squamata, Colubroidea) with various teeth from the fissure deposit in Queshan, Henan, China |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08912963.2022.2161382 |journal=Historical Biology |language=en |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2161382 |issn=0891-2963 |access-date=21 September 2024 |via=Taylor and Francis Online|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Species== The genus ''Lycodon'' comprises 79 species which are recognized as being valid.<ref name="Reptile Database">{{cite web|url=http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/search?search=Lycodon&submit=Search|title=''Lycodon ''|work=The Reptile Database|accessdate=11 June 2015|last=Uetz|first=Peter|author-link=species:Peter Uetz|last2=Hallermann|first2=Jakob|author2-link=species:Jakob Hallermann}}</ref>

*''Lycodon albofuscus'' {{small|(A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)}} – dark wolf snake *''Lycodon alcalai'' {{small|Ota & Ross, 1994}} – Alcala's wolf snake *''Lycodon anakradaya'' {{small|A.T. Nguyen, Duong, Wood & Grismer, 2022}} *''Lycodon aulicus'' {{small|(Linnaeus, 1758)}} – Indian wolf snake, common wolf snake *''Lycodon banksi'' Luu et al., 2018 – Banks's wolf snake *''Lycodon bibonius'' {{small|Ota & Ross, 1994}} – Ota's wolf snake *''Lycodon bicolor'' {{small|(Nikolsky, 1903)}} – Mackinnon's wolf snake *''Lycodon butleri'' {{small|Boulenger, 1900}} – Butler's wolf snake *''Lycodon calcarophilus'' {{small|G. Vogel, Bragin, Poyarkov & T.V. Nguyen, 2025}} – limestone wolf snake *''Lycodon capucinus'' {{small|F. Boie, 1827}} – common wolf snake *''Lycodon cardamomensis'' {{small|Daltry & Wüster, 2002}} *''Lycodon carinatus'' {{small|(Kuhl, 1820)}} – Ceylon wolf snake *''Lycodon cathaya'' {{small|J. Wang, Qi, Lyu, Zeng & Y.-Y. Wang, 2020}} – Huaping wolf snake *''Lycodon cavernicolus'' {{small|Grismer, Quah, Anuar, Muin, Wood & Nor, 2014}} – Gua Wang Burma wolf snake *''Lycodon chapaensis'' (Angel & Bourret, 1933) – Namdong wolf snake *''Lycodon chithrasekarai'' (Wickramasinghe et al., 2020) – Chithrasekara's bridle snake *''Lycodon chrysoprateros'' {{small|Ota & Ross, 1994}} – Ross's wolf snake *''Lycodon davidi'' {{small|G. Vogel et al., 2012}} – David's wolf snake *''Lycodon davisonii'' {{small|(Blanford, 1878)}} – Blanford's bridal snake *''Lycodon deccanensis'' {{small|Ganesh, Deuti, Punith, Achyuthan, Mallik, Adhikari & G. Vogel, 2020}} *''Lycodon dumerili'' {{small|(Boulenger, 1893)}} – Duméril's wolf snake *''Lycodon duytan'' {{small|T.V. Nguyen, Poyarkov & G. Vogel, 2025}} *''Lycodon effraenis'' {{small|Cantor, 1847}} – brown wolf snake *''Lycodon fasciatus'' {{small|(J. Anderson, 1879)}} *''Lycodon fasciolatus'' {{small|(Shaw, 1802)}} – banded wolf snake *''Lycodon fausti'' {{small|Gaulke, 2002}} – Faust's wolf snake *''Lycodon ferroni'' {{small|Lanza, 1999}} – Ferron's Asian wolf snake *''Lycodon flavicollis'' {{small|Mukherjee & Bhupathy, 2007}} – yellow-collared wolf snake *''Lycodon flavomaculatus'' {{small|Wall, 1907}} – yellow-spotted wolf snake *''Lycodon flavozonatus'' {{small|(Pope, 1928)}} – yellow-banded big tooth snake, yellow-spotted wolf snake, big-tooth snake *''Lycodon futsingensis'' {{small|(Pope, 1928)}} *''Lycodon gammiei'' {{small|(Blanford, 1878)}} – Gammie's wolf snake, Sikkim false wolf snake *''Lycodon gibsonae'' {{small|G. Vogel & David, 2019}} – Gibson's wolf snake *''Lycodon gongshan'' {{small|G. Vogel & Luo, 2011}} – Gongshan wolf snake *''Lycodon gracilis'' {{small|(Günther, 1864)}} – scarce bridal snake *''Lycodon hypsirhinoides'' {{small|(Theobald, 1868)}} *''Lycodon irwini'' {{small|Naveen, Mirza, Choure & Chandramouli, 2025}} – Irwin's wolf snake *''Lycodon jara'' {{small|(Shaw, 1802)}} – twin-spotted wolf snake *''Lycodon kundui'' {{small|M.A. Smith, 1943}} *''Lycodon laoensis'' {{small|Günther, 1864}} – Laotian wolf snake *''Lycodon latifasciatus'' {{small|T.V. Nguyen, Lee, K. Jiang, Ding, Chit, Poyarkov & G. Vogel, 2025}} – East Himalayan banded wolf snake *''Lycodon liuchengchaoi'' {{small|Zhang et al., 2011}} *''Lycodon muelleri'' {{small|A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854}} – Müller's wolf snake *''Lycodon multifasciatus'' {{small|(Maki, 1931)}} *''Lycodon multizonatus'' {{small|(Zhao & Y.-M. Jiang, 1981)}} – Luding wolf snake, Luding kukri snake *''Lycodon namdongensis'' {{small|Luu, Ziegler, Ha, Le & Hoang, 2019}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Luu |first1=Vinh Quang |author1-link=species:Vinh Quang Luu |last2=Ziegler |first2=Thomas |author2-link=species:Thomas Ziegler |last3=Ha |first3=Nghia Van |author3-link=species:Nghia Van Ha |last4=Le |first4=Minh Duc |author4-link=Minh Duc Le |last5=Hoang |first5=Tuoi Thi |author5-link=species:Tuoi Thi Hoang |date=2019 |title=A new species of ''Lycodon'' Boie, 1826 (Serpentes: Colubridae) from Thanh Hoa Province, Vietnam |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332462303 |journal=Zootaxa |volume=4586 |issue=2 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4586.2.3 |issn=1175-5334}}</ref> *''Lycodon neomaculatus'' {{small|T.V. Nguyen, Lee, Pauwels, Kennedy-Gold, Poyarkov, David & G. Vogel, 2024}} – Indochinese banded wolfsnake *''Lycodon nympha'' {{small|(Daudin, 1803)}} – Vellore bridal snake *''Lycodon obvelatus'' {{small|K. Wang, Yu, G. Vogel & Che, 2020}} – recluse wolf snake *''Lycodon ophiophagus'' {{small|G. Vogel et al., 2009}} – snake-eater wolf snake *''Lycodon orientalis'' {{small|(Hilgendorf, 1880)}} – Oriental odd-tooth snake *''Lycodon paucifasciatus'' {{small|Rendahl ''in'' M.A. Smith, 1943}} – Rendahl's wolf snake *''Lycodon philippinus'' {{small|(Griffin, 1909)}} – Philippine dryocalamus *''Lycodon pictus'' {{small|Janssen, Pham, Ngo, Le, T.Q. Nguyen & Ziegler, 2019}} *''Lycodon poyarkovii'' {{small|T.V. Nguyen & G. Vogel, 2025}} – Poyarkov's big-tooth snake *''Lycodon rosozonatus'' {{small|(Hu & Zhao, 1972)}} – rose big-tooth snake *''Lycodon rufozonatus'' {{small|Cantor, 1842}} – red-banded snake *''Lycodon ruhstrati'' {{small|(Fischer, 1886)}} – mountain wolf snake, Formosa wolf snake *''Lycodon sealei'' {{small|Leviton, 1955}} – Seale's banded Asian wolf snake *''Lycodon semicarinatus'' {{small|(Cope, 1860)}} – Loo-Choo big-tooth snake, Ryukyu odd-tooth snake *''Lycodon septentrionalis'' {{small|(Günther, 1875)}} – white-banded wolf snake, northern large-toothed snake *''Lycodon serratus'' {{small|K. Wang, Yu, G. Vogel & Che, 2020}} – serrate-banded wolf snake *''Lycodon sidiki'' {{small|Wostl, Hamidy, Kurniawan & E.N. Smith, 2017}} *''Lycodon solivagus'' {{small|Ota & Ross, 1994}} – common wolf snake *''Lycodon stormi'' {{small|Boettger, 1892}} – Sulawesi wolf snake *''Lycodon striatus'' {{small|(Shaw, 1802)}} – northern wolf snake, barred wolf snake *''Lycodon subannulatus'' {{small|(A.M.C. Duméril, Bibron & A.H.A. Duméril, 1854)}} – Malayan bridal snake, southern bridle snake *''Lycodon subcinctus'' {{small|F. Boie, 1827}} – Malayan banded wolf snake *''Lycodon synaptor'' {{small|G. Vogel & David, 2010}} – Boehme's wolf snake *''Lycodon tessellatus'' {{small|Jan, 1863}} – Manila wolf snake *''Lycodon tiwarii'' {{small|Biswas & Sanyal, 1965}} – Andaman wolf snake *''Lycodon travancoricus'' {{small|(Beddome, 1870)}} – Travancore wolf snake *''Lycodon tristrigatus'' {{small|(Günther, 1858)}} *''Lycodon truongi'' {{small|A.T. Nguyen, Duong, Wood & Grismer, 2022}} – Truong's wolf snake *''Lycodon walli'' {{small|(Stejneger, 1907)}} – Wall's red-banded snake *''Lycodon yunnanensis'' {{small|(F. Werner, 1922)}} – Yunnan wolf snake *''Lycodon zawi'' {{small|Slowinski et al., 2001}}<ref>{{EMBL species|genus=Lycodon|species=zawi}} www.reptile-database.org.</ref> – Zaw's wolf snake *''Lycodon zayuensis'' {{small|K. Jiang, Y.-F. Wang, Jin & Che, 2020}} *''Lycodon zoosvictoriae'' {{small|Neang, Hartmann, Seiha, Souter & Furey, 2014}} – Zoos Victoria's wolf snake

''Nota bene'': A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Lycodon''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Lycodon Category:Snake genera Category:Taxa named by Leopold Fitzinger Category:Long stubs with short prose