# Pythonoidea

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythonoidea
> Source revision: 1355287746
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{{Short description|Superfamily of snakes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name              = Pythonoidea
| taxon             = Pythonoidea
| subdivision_ranks = Families
| subdivision = 
* [Pythonidae](/source/Pythonidae)
* [Loxocemidae](/source/Loxocemus)
* [Xenopeltidae](/source/Xenopeltis)
}}

The '''Pythonoidea''', also known as '''pythonoid snakes''', are a superfamily of [snake](/source/snake)s that contains pythons (family [Pythonidae](/source/Pythonidae)) and other closely related python-like snakes (but not boas, which are in a separate superfamily called [Booidea](/source/Booidea)). As of 2022, Pythonoidea contains 39 species, including the eponymous genus ''[Python](/source/Python_(genus))'' and 10 other genera of pythons (''[Antaresia](/source/Antaresia)'', ''[Apodora](/source/Apodora)'', ''[Aspidites](/source/Aspidites)'', ''[Bothrochilus](/source/Bothrochilus)'', ''[Leiopython](/source/Leiopython)'', ''[Liasis](/source/Liasis)'', ''[Malayopython](/source/Malayopython)'', ''[Morelia](/source/Morelia_(snake))'', ''[Nyctophilopthon](/source/Oenpelli_python)'' and ''[Simalia](/source/Simalia)''), all in the family Pythonidae, as well as two lesser-known families, Loxocemidae (one species, the Mexican burrowing python, in the genus ''[Loxocemus](/source/Loxocemus)'') and Xenopeltidae (three species of sunbeam snakes in the genus ''[Xenopeltis](/source/Xenopeltis)'').<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Reynolds|first1=RG|last2=Niemiller|first2=ML|last3=Revell|first3=LJ|title=Toward a Tree-of-Life for the boas and pythons: multilocus species-level phylogeny with unprecedented taxon sampling|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|date=2014|volume=71|pages=201–213|url=http://www.rgrahamreynolds.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Reynolds_etal_2014_MPE.pdf|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2013.11.011|pmid=24315866|access-date=2018-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151202212953/http://www.rgrahamreynolds.info/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Reynolds_etal_2014_MPE.pdf|archive-date=2015-12-02|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The taxonomy of pythons, boas, and other henophidian snakes has long been debated, and ultimately the decision whether to assign a particular clade to a particular [Linnaean rank](/source/Linnaean_taxonomy) (such as a [superfamily](/source/Superfamily_(zoology)), [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)), or [subfamily](/source/subfamily)) is arbitrary. The clade name Pythonoidea emphasizes the relatively close evolutionary relationship among these 43 species, which last shared a common ancestor about 62 [CI: 46-78] million years ago, in contrast to the more distant relationship between pythonoids and their next closest relatives, [uropeltoids](/source/Uropeltoidea) (the most recent common ancestor between pythonoids and uropeltoids lived ~73 [CI:59-87] million years ago).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hedges|first1=SB|last2=Marin|first2=J|last3=Suleski|first3=M|last4=Paymer|first4=M|last5=Kumar|first5=S|title=Tree of Life Reveals Clock-Like Speciation and Diversification|journal=Mol Biol Evol|date=2015|volume=32|issue=4|pages=835–845|url=http://www.timetree.org/|doi=10.1093/molbev/msv037|pmid=25739733|pmc=4379413}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Zoology|date=May 2018}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2634007}}

Category:Alethinophidia

{{Alethinophidia-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Pythonoidea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythonoidea) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythonoidea?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.