A Comparative Morphological Study of the Vertebrae of Snakes Occurring in Japan and Adjacent Regions

Abstract

A comparative study was carried out on the vertebral morphology of 54 species and subspecies of snakes from Japan and a few other East and Southeast Asian countries. My purpose was to establish a character table for identification of Cenozoic fossil snake vertebrae frequently found in these regions. A total of 29 taxonomically useful characters were recognized. The validity of the vertebral features previously proposed to diagnose various snake taxa is examined on the basis of the present results.