An inventory of combat rituals in snakes

Carpenter, Charles C.

doi:10.5479/si.23317515.69.1

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The SSD divergence between Aspidelaps and the other taxa does not relate in any obvious way to mating systems. Male-male combat has been reported in A. lubricus (Mavromichalis & Bloem, 1997) and is widespread within Asian Naja (including Naja oxiana, Naja sputatrix and Naja 'tripudians' from Malaysia and India: Carpenter, 1986;Shine, 1994b). However, although malemale combat is known for at least two African cobra species [Naja annulifera (as Naja haje: Carpenter, 1986) and N. melanoleuca, Branch, 1998], this behaviour has never been reported in the rhinkals or in some of the other widespread South African cobras (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of cobras from southern Africa

et al. 2006

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Large slender-bodied snakes that forage actively for a generalized array of small vertebrates are conspicuous elements of the terrestrial snake fauna of most continents; the venomous elapid species fill this role in much of Asia, Africa and Australia. Our dissections of eight species of cobras from southern Africa Aspidelaps, Hemachatus, Naja; Serpentes and Elapidae (total of 1290 specimens) provide extensive data on sexual dimorphism, reproductive biology and food habits. Females grow larger than males in Aspidelaps lubricus and Naja nigricincta, but (perhaps reflecting selection on male body size due to male-male combat) males grow as large as females in Naja anchietae, Naja melanoleuca, Naja mossambica, Naja nivea and Hemachatus haemachatus, and males grow larger than females in Naja annulifera. Overall, the degree of male size superiority is higher in species with a larger absolute mean adult body size. Male cobras typically have larger heads and longer tails than conspecific females. Fecundity increases with maternal body size, and is higher in the viviparous rhinkals H. haemachatus than in the oviparous Naja species studied. Diets are broad in all eight species, comprising a wide variety of amphibians, reptiles, mammals and (less often) birds. Ontogenetic (size-related) shifts in dietary composition (amphibian to reptile to mammal) are significant within some taxa (N. annulifera, N. nigricincta) but absent in others (notably N. nivea, the most arid-adapted species). Overall, despite substantial interspecific variation among the eight study species, strong parallels are evident between the cobras of southern Africa and their ecological counterparts in other continents.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology of cobras from southern Africa

et al. 2006

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“…The prevalence of sexual dimorphism among the LMV makes sense in light of the tendency for male Rhinocheilus to be larger than females. The trend for larger males is unusual in colubrid snakes and often indicates a mating system with male-male competition (Shine, 1978(Shine, , 1994 or female oviparity (Fitch, 1981), both of which are found in Rhinocheilus (Carpenter, 1986). Intersexual differences in body size should therefore explain the differences observed in tail length, head length and snout length due to genetic correlation (Lande, 1980).…”

Section: Malesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic variation in the long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei (Colubridae): beyond the subspecies debate

Manier

2004

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society

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Scalation, colour pattern, linear and geometric morphometrics were used to quantify geographical differentiation in the long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei, and to test the hypothesis that all four subspecies are morphologically distinct. Also investigated were potential associations between morphological (scalation, colour pattern, linear measurements) and environmental variables (climate, vegetation, soil). Sexual dimorphism was weakest for geometric and strongest for linear morphometric variables. Morphological variables differed widely in their ability to differentiate subspecies. Linear morphometric variables achieved the most statistically significant pairwise Mahalanobis distances between subspecies, while geometric morphometrics largely failed to differentiate them. Colour pattern showed the strongest and linear morphometrics the weakest correlation with environment. Several characters varied continuously along latitudinal or longitudinal gradients, such that, in some cases, the clines for closely related traits were discordant. No one subspecies was consistently divergent in all analyses, leading to the conclusion that the three mainland subspecies are not sufficiently distinct to warrant separate subspecies status. The island subspecies, though not always statistically distinct, is geographically separate from other populations and differs in characters related to size. Given the small number of specimens available, a decision regarding its taxonomic status (i.e. elevation to species level) is best deferred until additional specimens can be examined and data on molecular variation can be analysed.

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“…The recent development of behavioural studies on snake mating systems has produced growing evidence of some remarkable complexities in the reproductive behaviour of snakes including, e.g. the occurrence of ritual dances between males for access to females (AndrCn, 1986;and Carpenter, 1986, for a review), the use of female-like pheromones for inhibiting the activity of rival males (Mason & Crews, 1985;Mason et al, 1989), and the production of copulatory plugs (Ross & Crews, 1978;Nilson & Andren, 1982;Andrtn & Nilson, 1987, but see also Stille, Niklasson & Madsen, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual success in mating balls of the grass snake, Natrix natrix: size is important

Luiselli

1996

Journal of Zoology

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Natricine colubrid snakes, including the grass snake, Natrix natrix, are frequently involved in complex social behaviour during the reproductive season. During these social behaviours, several males may simultaneously court a single female, resulting in a ‘ball’of mating snakes in which each male ‘combats’with rival males by ‘tail wrestling’(see Madsen & Shine, 1993). I performed some experiments in outdoor enclosures for testing the male‐male competition and the determinants of mating success in male grass snakes involved in such ‘ball’aggregations. I demonstrated that competition between males occurred both when a single female was available to multiple males and when two females were simultaneously available to males. The larger males achieved more copulations than the smaller ones, thus demonstrating that body size is a crucial determinant of the individual mating success. It was not clear which aspect of male body size is the most important in determining success in these mating ‘balls’, but it was evident that the age of the ‘fighting’male was not correlated with mating success. Larger females attracted more males than smaller ones, both in the field and in the enclosure. Furthermore, when the size difference between available females in the cage was high, only the largest female was courted and coupled.

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An inventory of combat rituals in snakes

Cited by 14 publications

References 17 publications

Ecology of cobras from southern Africa

Ecology of cobras from southern Africa

Geographic variation in the long-nosed snake, Rhinocheilus lecontei (Colubridae): beyond the subspecies debate

Individual success in mating balls of the grass snake, Natrix natrix: size is important

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