WW wrote:

"In summary, it is probably fair to say that the position of Homoroselaps remains unclear. It certainly does not seem to be rooted within the remaining elapids, and Atractaspidid affinties seem a likely prospect. The present siutation is that the elapids, atractaspidids, psammophiines, boodontines/lamprophiines and pseudoxyrhophiines form a poorly resolved cluster, and some genera seem to be difficult to assign to one or the other of these (sub-) families based on the evidence currently available."



Part of the difficulty may be due to the lumping of Atractaspis with some of the fossorial colubrids on the basis of convergent similarities, as Kate Jackson points out. Atractaspis has hollow fangs, like the elapids, so its placement within the Elapidae by Heise et al., is not surprising and is in fact consistent with morphology. Similarly, the placement of Homoroselaps by Slowinski and Keogh is also not surprising, since it does not have hollow fangs, only grooved teeth. To me, the systematic status of Homoroselaps and Atractaspis are pretty well resolved, even if the other taxa you mention may not. Homoroselaps is most likely a basal or proto-elapid, and Atractaspis is a specialized elapid with movable fangs.

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