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Glite Dictionary
Elapidae

Elapidae

9.9
A family of snakes that have venom and fixed front fangs, like cobras and mambas
  • noun
  • /ɪˈlæpɪdeɪ/
  • Specialized
: Elápidos
  • The Elapidae family includes some of the most venomous snakes, such as the cobra and the krait.

Examples

  • The taxonomy is somewhat in dispute, but here, for simplicity, I'll follow a popular classification that regards those two lineages as subfamilies within the family Elapidae.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The Elapidae family is known for its highly toxic members, including mambas and coral snakes.

  • Many species in the Elapidae family exhibit brightly colored patterns as a warning to predators.

Surface Forms

Elapidae singular
Elapidae plural

Morphology

Elapidae = elapid (semi-transparent) = elapid + idae

The family name is formed by the standard scientific suffix '-idae' added to the stem 'elapid', a regular taxonomic formation but one that is specialized and not obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Elapidae comes from an old Greek name, Elaps, which meant 'a kind of snake'. So Elapidae is the name for that family of snakes, which is why it refers to venomous groups like cobras and mambas.