Elapsoidea is a genus of venomous snakes, commonly known as African garter snakes, in the family Elapidae. Despite their common names, they are unrelated to the harmless North American garter snakes of the genus Thamnophis.

Species

The following ten species are recognized as being valid.

• Elapsoidea boulengeri Boettger, 1895 – Boulenger's garter snake – Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

• Elapsoidea broadleyi Jakobsen, 1997 – Broadley's garter snake – Somalia

• Elapsoidea chelazziorum Lanza, 1979 – Somali garter snake – Somalia

• Elapsoidea guentherii Bocage, 1866 – Günther's garter snake – Angola, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe

• Elapsoidea laticincta (F. Werner, 1919) – Werner's garter snake – Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda

• Elapsoidea loveridgei Parker, 1949 – Loveridge's garter snake – Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda

• Elapsoidea nigra Günther, 1888 – black garter snake – Tanzania

• Elapsoidea semiannulata Bocage, 1882 – Angolan garter snake – throughout central Africa

• Elapsoidea sundevallii (A. Smith, 1848) – Sundevall's garter snake – Botswana, Eswatini, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

• Elapsoidea trapei Mané, 1999 – Senegal garter snake – Senegal, Mauritania

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Elapsoidea.

References

Further reading

• Bocage JVB (1866). "Reptiles nouveaux ou peu connus recueillis dans les possessions portugaises de l'Afrique occidentale, qui se trouvent au Muséum de Lisbonne ". Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturales, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa 1: 57–78. (Elapsoidea, new genus, p.70). (in French).

• Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. . (Genus Elapsoidea, p.104).