colubern.
/ˈkɒljʊbə/ Zoology.
A genus of harmless snakes, typical of, and formerly coextensive with, the family Colubridæ; exemplified in Britain by the common Ringed Snake. (The name was formerly not limited to harmless snakes.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > reptiles > order Squamata (lizards and snakes) > suborder Ophidia (snakes) > types of snake > [noun] > family Colubridae > genus or member of genus Coluber
corn-snake1676
blacksnake1694
wampum snake1737
coluber1754
pilot snake1793
wampum1819
1754 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. I. 662 There are several very beautiful species of coluber without particular names.
1804 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 94 70 I have..received two colubers from Java; and..two from Martinico; all four venomous.
1826 D. Denham & H. Clapperton Narr. Trav. N. & Central Afr. i. 50 We also killed this day an enormous snake, a species of coluber.
1847 W. B. Carpenter Zool.: Systematic Acct. I. §507 The Harmless Snakes are divided into two families,—the Colubridæ, or Colubers,—and the Boidæ, or Boas.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1891; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
<
n.1754