{{Short description|Family of reptiles}} {{More citations needed|date=November 2025}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = {{fossil range|11.608|0}} Middle Miocene - present <ref>{{cite journal |last=Sepkoski |first=Jack |title=A compendium of fossil marine animal genera (Reptilia entry) |journal=Bulletins of American Paleontology |volume=364 |page=560 |year=2002 |url=http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=663&rank=class |access-date=2007-12-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070802130419/http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=663&rank=class |archive-date=2007-08-02 }}</ref> | image = Arafura File Snake (Acrochordus arafurae) (8691271511).jpg | image_caption = ''Acrochordus arafurae'' | parent_authority = Bonaparte, 1831 | taxon = Acrochordus | authority = Hornstedt, 1787 | subdivision_ranks = | subdivision = | display_parents = 2 | synonyms= '''Acrochordidae''': {{collapsible list| * Acrochordina <small>Bonaparte, 1831</small> * Acrochordidae <small>Bonaparte, 1840</small> * Acrochorniens <small>A.M.C. Duméril, 1853</small> * Acrochordidae <small>Jan, 1863</small> * Acrochordinae <small>Boulenger, 1893</small> * Acrochordoidae <small>McDowell, 1975</small> * Acrochordini <small>Dowling & Duellman, 1978</small> }} '''''Acrochordus''''': {{collapsible list| * ''Acrochordus'' <small>Hornstedt, 1787</small> * ''Chersydrus'' <small>Cuvier, 1817</small> * ''Chersidrus'' <small>Oken, 1817</small> * ''Acrochordus'' <small>Gray, 1825</small> * ''Chersydreas'' <small>Gray, 1825</small> * ''Chershydrus'' <small>Bonaparte, 1831</small> * ''Verrucator'' <small>Schlegel, 1837</small> * ''Chersydraeas'' <small>Gray, 1849</small> * ''Potamophis'' <small>Schmidt, 1852</small> * ''Chersydraeus'' <small>Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, 1854</small> * ''Acrochordus'' <small>Boulenger, 1893</small> }} | synonyms_ref = <ref name="McD99">McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. {{ISBN|1-893777-00-6}} (series). {{ISBN|1-893777-01-4}} (volume).</ref> }}
The '''Acrochordidae''', commonly known as '''wart snakes''',<ref name="ITIS-F">{{ITIS |id=174119 |taxon=''Acrochordidae'' |access-date=16 August 2007}}</ref> '''Java wart snakes''',<ref name="ITIS-G">{{ITIS |id=209068 |taxon=''Acrochordus'' |access-date=16 August 2007}}</ref> '''file snakes''', '''elephant trunk snakes''', or '''dogface snakes''' are a monogeneric family of snakes.<ref name="ITIS-F"/> The sole genus '''''Acrochordus'''''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Genus Acrochordus - taxonomy & distribution / RepFocus |url=https://repfocus.dk/Acrochordus.html |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=repfocus.dk}}</ref> are basal aquatic snakes found in Australia and tropical Asia, with three species recognized.<ref name="ITIS-G"/>
==Description== [[File:Arafura File Snake (Acrochordus arafurae) (8851310937).jpg|left|thumb|Head of ''Acrochordus arafurae'']] All are entirely aquatic, lacking the broad belly-scales found in most other snakes and possessing dorsally located eyes. Their most notable feature is their skin and scales. The skin is loose and baggy, giving the impression of being several sizes too large for the snake, and the scales, rather than overlapping, possess tiny pyramidal projections that led to their common names. Adults grow to between {{convert|60|and|243|cm|abbr=out}} in length.
This type of snake are ambush predators, lurking at the bottom of rivers, streams and estuaries, and waiting for fish to approach, which they grip with their coils. The rough scales allow them to hold the fish despite the mucus coating.
==Geographic range== Found from western India and Sri Lanka through tropical Southeast Asia to the Philippines, south through the Indonesian island group to Timor, east through New Guinea to the northern coast of Australia to Mussau Island, the Bismarck Archipelago and Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands.<ref name="McD99"/>
==Relation to humans== These animals are rapidly becoming rare as their hides are used for handbags and leather (stripped of scales, of course). Numerous attempts have been made by both zoos and private reptile collectors to keep them, but in all cases, they have been reluctant to feed and prone to skin infections.
==Species== {|class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%;text-align:center" !scope="col"|Common name !scope="col"|Scientific name !scope="col"|IUCN Red List Status !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Distribution !scope="col" class="unsortable"|Picture |- |Arafura file snake<ref name="EMBL-AA">{{EMBL species|genus=Acrochordus|species=arafurae|date=16 August|year=2007}}</ref> |''Acrochordus arafurae'' <br/>McDowell, 1979 |{{IUCN status|LC|176764|1}}<ref>{{cite iucn |author=Tallowin, O. |author2=Parker, F. |author3=O'Shea, M. |author4=Cogger, H. |author5=Vanderduys, E. |author6=Amey, A. |author7=Hoskin, C. |author8=Couper, P. |date=2018 |title=''Acrochordus arafurae'' |volume=2018 |article-number=e.T176764A21647516 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T176764A21647516.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> |New Guinea and northern Australia. |180px |- |Little wart snake<ref name="FC">[http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor/reptiles/reptiles.htm Western Australian Reptile Species] at [http://members.iinet.net.au/~foconnor/ Frank O'Connor's Birding Western Australia]. Accessed 20 September 2007</ref> |''Acrochordus granulatus'' <br/>(Schneider, 1799) |{{IUCN status|LC|176769|1}}<ref>{{cite iucn |author=Sanders, K. |author2=Murphy, J. |author3=Lobo, A. |author4=Gatus, J. |date=2010 |title=''Acrochordus granulatus'' |volume=2010 |article-number=e.T176769A7300762 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS.T176769A7300762.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> |Peninsular India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Andaman Islands, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and coastal northern Australia. |180px |- |Elephant trunk snake<ref name="EMBL-AJ">{{EMBL species|genus=Acrochordus|species=javanicus|date=16 August|year=2007}}</ref> |''Acrochordus javanicus'' <br/>Hornstedt, 1787 |{{IUCN status|LC|176718|1}}<ref>{{cite iucn |author=Sanders, K. |author2=Grismer, L. |author3=Chan-Ard, T. |date=2012 |title=''Acrochordus javanicus'' |volume=2012 |article-number=e.T176718A1443749 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T176718A1443749.en |access-date=11 November 2021}}</ref> |Southeast Asia from Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, south through Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra, Java and Borneo). |frameless|180x180px |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * {{NRDB family|page=acrochordidae.php|family=Acrochordidae|date=3 November|year=2008}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141026034204/http://www.acrochordus.com/ Acrochordus.com]. Accessed 3 November 2008. * [http://snakesarelong.blogspot.com/2014/08/filesnakes-wartsnakes-or-elephant.html Acrochordids] at ''Life is Short but Snakes are Long''
{{Snake_families}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q752551}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Acrochordidae Category:Snake genera