Calabariidae Gray 1858

Pyron, R. Alexander, Reynolds, R. Graham & Burbrink, Frank T., 2014, A Taxonomic Revision of Boas (Serpentes: Boidae), Zootaxa 3846 (2), pp. 249-260 : 253

Family Calabariidae Gray 1858

Type genus. Calabaria Gray 1858

Genus content. Calabaria

Diagnosis. Calabariids can be distinguished from all other similar or related taxa by the following combination of characters: lack of palatine teeth, presence of premaxillary teeth, supraorbital bone lacking a dorsal lobe, enlarged head shields, and oviparous reproduction (see Frazzetta 1959; Kluge 1993).

Phylogenetic definition. Currently monotypic; would include any newly discovered species more closely related to Calabaria reinhardtii than any other species.

Etymology. Refers to type locality of Old Calabar (Akwa Akpa; “Duke Town”), the Portuguese name (of unknown derivation) for a 19th century city-state on the river of the same name in southeastern Nigeria.

Distribution. Rainforests of western Africa, from Sierra Leone to northern Congo and western Central African Republic.

Remarks. This group has a confusing taxonomic history, having long been considered a pythonoid, as well being synonymized with Charina (see Kluge 1993). Molecular phylogenetic analyses clearly show booid affinities, as well as distinctiveness from all other booid genera ( Noonan and Chippindale 2006; Wiens et al. 2008; Burbrink & Pyron 2012; Pyron et al. 2013; Reynolds et al. 2014).