06/08/2026
𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫?
Hello,
I hope you are all well.
Today I am writing an article after a long time. Believe me, in this busy life it is an extremely risky task to take out time for my hobbies. But still I try my best that whenever I get some free moments, I keep sharing some of my knowledge with you to increase the information of group members.
Although my existing fact-based articles are also a treasure of knowledge for those who are seekers of knowledge. But from time to time it is your group members' questions that compel me to write new articles so that I can give scientific answers to those questions for which you have been asking for a long time, and also that new members joining the group can later read these articles and be satisfied.
•𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:•
- Many people have asked so many times before whether snakes mate outside their own species or not?
- If they do, does the female conceive or not?
- If babies are born, what is the result, etc?
To find answers to these questions, it is very important to first know about the tribes, families, genera, and species of snakes. If you understand these things then you will quickly understand the answers to these questions. After reading this article, even if you talk about snakes with any snake expert, he will have an idea that at least the person he is talking with has quite good information about snakes.
•𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬:•
First of all, know that snakes are divided into two big basic groups:
(𝟏) •𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚 - 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬:
That is, those snakes that have made many changes in themselves over time. Meaning changes in their hunting, swallowing prey, and physical features have improved from good to better. It includes almost all large species of snakes such as pythons, boas, king cobra, cobra, vipers, rat snakes, aquatic snakes, etc. There are approximately 20 snake families in this group.
(𝟐). •𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐚 - 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐦 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬:
Those snakes that are very small and thin, mostly live burrowing underground, their eyes are either very small or almost useless. They rely more on smell and touch instead of sight. These snakes mostly look like earthworms such as blind snakes, thread snakes and worm snakes etc. There are 3 families of snakes in this group.
Scientists have divided these snake groups into various classifications after years of tireless work. In this, whenever a new type of snake is found, first a live or dead specimen is taken and its microgenetic study is done, such as Mitochondrial DNA is examined, apart from that morphological differences are also looked at.
•𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Apart from this, first know what scientific classification is, then I will explain mtDNA, to you in detail. These are all levels of scientific classification, understand them in simple words:
•𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦 = 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚:
It means that this living being is an animal, meaning it eats, moves and is a living creature.
•𝐏𝐡𝐲𝐥𝐮𝐦 = 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚:
This group includes animals that have a spinal cord or a similar basic structure in their body. Such as humans, fish, birds, and snakes etc.
•𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 = 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚- 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬:
This is a smaller group within the phylum. It includes such living beings that share more similar characteristics with each other, like snakes, lizards, crocodiles, iguanas, geckos, chameleons etc.
•𝐎𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 = 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐚- 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩:
After class, living beings are further divided into a smaller group Squamata, in this only snakes and lizards come which have scales on their body.
•𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 = 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐬- 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬:
This is an even smaller group in which snakes are further divided into types. For example, sometimes snakes are kept in separate groups according to venomous, non-venomous, or body structure. This is specific only for crawling snakes.
After this comes the classification of snake families, such as you know:
- 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐕𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐄𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐁𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
- 𝐀𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐞
etc.
In total there are about 20 types of snake families. Then these families also have subfamilies, meaning sub-families too. Then each family has many genera, the plural of the genus is called genera.
That is, you can estimate from this that in the Colubridae family there are approximately 8 subfamilies and in all of them there are approximately 258 genera and approximately 1866 to 2000 species.
𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐢 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞:
Ptyas mucosa i.e. Indian Rat Snake which is commonly found in Pakistan, belongs to the subfamily Colubrinae of the Colubridae family and its genus is Ptyas, and its species is mucosa.
Now understand this thing carefully that in the Ptyas genus there are approximately 13 types of species found in different countries of the world whose species names are as follows:
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐚,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐬,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐩𝐬𝐚𝐬,
•𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐞,
•𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐞,
•𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐮𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐬,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐚,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚,
•𝐏𝐭𝐲𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐚.
Now you can imagine that I have only told you about one species of one genus of one subfamily Colubrinae of Colubridae and there are approximately 92 genera and 717 species in this subfamily. Meaning if I start telling you about the remaining 91 genera, and the species present in them, it would take months.
There are also many such genera in many families which have only one species. This is called a monotypic species. Meaning a species which is alone in that genus. Like earlier the king cobra found in different countries of the world was kept in the genus Ophiophagus and whatever country the king cobra was found in, it was called Ophiophagus hannah. But now due to new genetic study and morphological difference, their new classification or categorization has been done and according to it the king cobras found in different countries of the world have been divided into four different species. Meaning now this species is not monotypic.
Meaning now there are four species in the genus Ophiophagus which are as follows:
•𝟏. 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚
(𝐎𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐡)
•𝟐. 𝐖𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐆𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚
(𝐎𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐬 𝐤𝐚𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚)
•𝟑. 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚
(𝐎𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐬)
•𝟒. 𝐋𝐮𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐨𝐛𝐫𝐚
(𝐎𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐚)
Now coming to the main point of how a new or existing species is placed in or removed from a genus or family, as I told you earlier about microgenetic study, MITOCHONDRIAL DNA is specifically examined in it.
•𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐭𝐃𝐍𝐀?
The Mitochondrial DNA of snakes is actually a special type of DNA which is found in the small part inside the snake's cells called Mitochondria.
Understand in simple words that every living being's body has cells. Inside the cell there is a part that makes energy, it is called Mitochondria. Inside this mitochondria there is a little separate DNA, it is called Mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA.
•𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐍𝐀?
Snakes have two types of DNA:
°𝟏. 𝐍𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐃𝐍𝐀:
This is the main big DNA.
It is present in the center of the cell i.e. Nucleus, which comes from both mother and father.
°𝟐. 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐍𝐀 𝐦𝐭𝐃𝐍𝐀:
This is transferred to offspring only from the mother. Meaning if a female cobra gives birth, the mtDNA of those babies will match their mother's cobra.
•𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭?
mtDNA is very important in snakes because it is used to determine the relationship of different snake species and to see whether two snakes are the same species or different species. It is used to understand the evolutionary history of snakes from which it can be found out whether the dead or live snake sample whose DNA is being examined is a hybrid or interbred snake or the same existing snake species or type.
Suppose if the DNA of Indian Cobra (Naja naja) and Central Asian Cobra (Naja oxiana) is compared, then scientists can understand from mtDNA, how close their relationship is and how old their common ancestors were. Meaning it will be found out whether the mother of this new hybrid cobra was Naja naja or Naja oxiana.
Similarly in humans also family, lineage or mother's line is traced, in the same way mtDNA, works like a maternal family identity in snakes. mtDNA, is small in size, can mutate quickly, is easy to use in research, and helps a lot in understanding the evolutionary history of old snakes.
•𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:•
Now coming to the most real and basic question of whether snakes of different genera can crossbreed or not?
The simple answer is no, this does not happen naturally.
- 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐍𝐀 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭,
- 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭,
- 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭,
- 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭.
Due to this, successful reproduction fertile offspring between them is very difficult or almost impossible. For example, successful natural breeding between Naja genus i.e. Cobra snake and Bungarus genus i.e. Krait is almost impossible.
Successful cross breeding or interbreeding in snakes is mostly seen within the same species. Like I explained to you above with the example of Dhaman snake Ptyas mucosa, the above 13 species of Ptyas genus can be successful if they interbreed with each other. It can never happen that a cobra snake mates with a krait snake, or a common krait with a rat snake, or a kukri snake with a viper snake.
However, there are rare hybrid reports in some closely related genera in scientific experiments or in captivity, but most of the children born do not survive or are sterile or the eggs do not develop properly. This is exactly like how a horse and a donkey, despite being different species, can produce a mule, but the mule is sterile and cannot continue its lineage.
Interbreeding between different genera in snakes is very rare, but breeders keep experimenting in captivity and keep trying intergeneric pairing meaning pairing and mating of 2 different genera of snakes. There are a few reports and experimental hybrids of this. Some of them are completely scientifically proven while some are just breeder reports.
•𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬:•
𝟏. 𝐋𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐬 𝐱 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐬:
In captivity some cases of Rat snakes and King snakes have been reported because both are in the Colubridae family and are relatively close genetically.
𝟐. 𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧 × 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐩𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧:
Example: Burmese Python and Reticulated Python. This is considered a quite famous captive hybrid. Both were previously counted in the same genus, later the classification was changed and the genus of both was changed.
𝟑. 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐚 × 𝐏𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐧:
Some Python breeders have made hybrids of different Python genres.
Example: Carpet Python × Ball Python, by mixing them hybrid pythons have been made.
𝟒. 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐬 × 𝐒𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐫𝐮𝐬:
These two viper genera are quite close. Limited hybrid reports exist. Some breeders have tried such intergeneric pairings mating 2 different genera but success has been very low.
The closer the genera are to each other evolutionarily, the higher the possibility of hybridization. Mostly interspecies pairing is more successful, like the 38 species found in the Naja genus in different countries of the world, if they interbreed while staying within their own species, it is successful. Like,
- 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐱 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐣𝐚,
- 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐧𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐱 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐤𝐚𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐚,
- 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐜𝐚 𝐱 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚,
- 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐱 𝐍𝐚𝐣𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐚.
I hope this article will be beneficial for all of you and you will learn a lot of new things by reading this.
𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄:•
If you share the article, Please post it with Author's name.
Thank you.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐲:
Amir Ilyas
𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐫 &
𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭.
(Reptiles of Wild, Bangkok, Thailand)
𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:
Syed Aly Uzair Shah - (SNAKER's)
𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐫 &
𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭.
(Reptiles of Wild, New Yor, USA)
----- 𓆙•𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐝•𓆙