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| The Indian Sand Boa, Gongylophis conicus (Schneider, 1801). Photographs of a captive. G. conicus ranges from eastern Pakistan into India, and occurs on Sri Lanka in arid habitats. It has also been placed in the genus Eryx. |
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| The Egyptian Sand Boa, Gongylophis colubrinus, is found in northern Africa. It ranges from Egypt as far west as Niger and countries inhabited: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, and northern Tanzania. Gongylophis colubrinus uses semi-desert and scrub savannan and rock outcroppings with sandy, friable soils that it can burrow in. |
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| The Sand Boas have long been considered part of the family Boidae. However, recent molecular work (Noonan and Chippindale, 2006 Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40:347-358) suggests that members of this group are distinct from the boas, and that they collectively form the sister group to the South Pacific snakes of the genus Candoia (Solomon Island Boas). The Erycidae contains two genera and 11 species with a Middle Eastern/Indian distribution. |
