elapsoidea

[Hervé Burdet]

Dear taxacom colleagues,

Beeing a botanist, my taxonomic knowledge of snakes is rather shaky at best.
But I need to be informed on the exact ethymology of the name "elapsoidea". The
name obviously derives from the greek "elaps" or "elaphis" which refers to the
mythological snake "elaps", speedy as a deer. Is this ethymology correct or is
there another philologic derivation to explain the name? With many thanks,

                                                Herve.