Colubroidea

Colubroidea is a superfamily of snakes in the clade Colubroides that includes Colubridae, with some studies splitting Colubridae into multiple families that make up Colubroidea. Historically, Colubroidea also included other caenophidian snakes such as cobras and vipers, as these snakes form a clade. However these groups are now divided into several distinct, but related, families. Zaher et al. (2009) proposed to redefine Colubroidea for colubrids and related families, while designating Colubroides as the group containing vipers and cobras as well as colubroids. The ReptileDatabase considers Colubroidea to be composed of Colubridae and the members of its sister group, Elapoidea, and does not recognize the division of Colubridae into multiple families.

Classification

Phylogeny

Colubroidea

Colubridae

	Grayiinae

	Calamariinae

	Ahaetuliinae

	Colubrinae

	Sibynophiidae

	Natricidae

Pseudoxenodontidae

Dipsadidae

Carphophiinae

	Xenodontinae

	Dipsadinae

Families and Subfamilies

Usual taxonomy:

Family: Colubridae Oppel, 1811
- Subfamily: Grayiinae Günther, 1858
- Subfamily: Calamariinae Bonaparte, 1838
- Subfamily: Ahaetullinae Figueroa, McKelvy, Grismer, Bell & Lailvaux, 2016
- Subfamily: Colubrinae Oppel, 1811
- Subfamily: Sibynophiinae Dunn, 1928
- Subfamily: Natricidae Bonaparte, 1838
- Subfamily: Pseudoxenodontidae McDowell, 1987
- Subfamily: Xenodontinae Dunn, 1928
- Subfamily: Dipsadinae Bonaparte, 1838

Alternate taxonomy:

Family: Sibynophiidae Dunn, 1928
Family: Natricidae Bonaparte, 1838
Family: Pseudoxenodontidae McDowell, 1987
Family: Dipsadidae Bonaparte, 1838
- Subfamily: Carphophiinae Zaher et al., 2009
- Subfamily: Xenodontinae Dunn, 1928
- Subfamily: Dipsadinae Bonaparte, 1838
Family: Colubridae Oppel, 1811
- Subfamily: Grayiinae Günther, 1858
- Subfamily: Calamariinae Bonaparte, 1838
- Subfamily: Ahaetullinae Figueroa, McKelvy, Grismer, Bell & Lailvaux, 2016
- Subfamily: Colubrinae Oppel, 1811

Unknown Genera incertae sedis (not currently placed in a family, usually because of the absence of genetic data, but suspected to be colubroids based on morphology)