About snakeDB

This project collects referenced data about snakes. The database covers the taxonomy, morphology and toxicity of snakes. Aggregated data pages like the maximum size of snake species display selected data records in a table. You can filter tables according to your own criteria. References – like the size reference – contain the unfiltered source data records. This allows you to check the validity of each data record and see it in a context. It is also possible to download every table in different formats (CSV, Excel, PDF, Print). If you need specific data records for a research project, please contact me!

About me

My name is Sascha Steinhoff, I work in the information technology sector and have always been interested in snakes. I started snakeDB after I accidentally stepped into a snake in South-East Asia. The snake did not bite but I got hooked on herpetology. Please get in touch if you spot errors or have ideas for improvement. Contributions of structured data are also appreciated!

Pupil Shapes

There is a great variety of pupil shapes in snake species, on genus level and on family level. However, the correct assignment of pupil shapes is not a trivial task. Pupils may change their shape dramatically during dilation. It is recommendable to observe the pupil during all stages of dilation from fully closed to fully opened. Please have a look at the latest pupil classification for details.

Snake Fangs

The dentition of a snake provides a good indication about its nutrition and possible toxicity. Venomous snake species usually have distinct fangs, located either in the front or the rear of the mouth. It does not matter, if a fang of a venomous snake is hollow, carved or solid. Serious evenomations in human bite victims have been reported for all variants.

Tree boa skull by WitmerLab, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (non-venomous species without fangs)

Citations

You may cite this project as: 'STEINHOFF S., snakeDB.org – accessed 2024-10-08'

snakeDB.org and its predecessor snakedatabase.org have been cited in following publications:

A. Computational Science

B. Herpetology Papers

2024 2023 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

If you know more citations, please send me a mail and ideally also the paper.