
Eunectes is a genus of non-venomous boas found in tropical South America, commonly called anacondas. An aquatic group of snakes inhabiting swamps and rivers, its members include some of the largest snakes in the world. Despite this, little was known about them until recently. The name Eunectes is derived from the Greek word Eυνήκτης, which means “good swimmer.” Three species are currently recognized.


Common names
Local names in South America include the Spanish term “matatoro,” meaning “bull killer,” and the Native American terms sucuri and “yakumama.”
A possible origin for the common name anaconda is the Tamil anaikondran, meaning “elephant killer”, or anaikkonda, meaning “having killed an elephant”. A name first used in English to name a Ceylonese python, it erroneously was applied to a large South American boa, called in Brazil “sucuri”. The word is of uncertain origin, and no snake name like it now is found in Sinhalese or Tamil. Another suggestion is that it represents Tamil. It is unclear how this name originated so far from the snake’s native habitat; possibly this is due to its vague similarity to the large Asian pythons.

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