Mandibular sawing in a snail-eating snake

Kojima, Yosuke; Fukuyama, Ibuki; Kurita, Takaki; Hossman, Mohamad Yazid; Nishikawa, Kanto

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-69436-7

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…As a general rule snakes swallow their prey in one piece and it is unusual that they deliberately tear or cut off parts of a prey to swallow them. It is well-documented that several Asian snakes of the family Pareidae and Latin American snakes of the subfamily Dipsadinae (Colubridae) feed on snails which they extract from their shells (Greene 1997;Lillywhite 2014;Arteaga et al 2018;Wang et al 2020, Kojima et al 2020. Similar habits of snail extraction are known in the two North American colubrids Storeria dekayi and S. occipitomaculata (Rossman and Myer 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand

Bringsøe¹,

Suthanthangjai²,

Suthanthangjai³

et al. 2020

Herpetozoa

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A hitherto unknown feeding mode among snakes is described for the colubrid snake Oligodon fasciolatus in Northeast Thailand. Three cases of O. fasciolatus using enlarged posterior maxillary teeth to cut open the abdomen of a live poisonous toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus and eat its organs are described. The snakes and toads fought vigorously, and the toads secreted toxic white liquid on the dorsum and neck. The snakes inserted their heads into the abdomen of the toads, pulled out some of the organs and swallowed them. The snakes and toads were adults. All three cases were documented by extensive photographic material. In a fourth case from Central Thailand, an adult O. fasciolatus was observed swallowing an entire semi-adult D. melanostictus. The majority of all snake species swallow their prey in one piece, but to place our observations in a broader context we review a number of exceptions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand

Bringsøe¹,

Suthanthangjai²,

Suthanthangjai³

et al. 2020

Herpetozoa

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“…Additionally, the alternative modes of prey ingestion adapted to a broad range of prey types (e.g., mandibular raking, Deufel and Cundall 2003, or sawing, Kojima et al. 2020, or tearing prey, Jayne et al. 2018) illustrates the interspecific variation in myological and functional relationships between the feeding bones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological integration and modularity in the hyperkinetic feeding system of aquatic‐foraging snakes

et al. 2020

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The kinetic skull is a key innovation that allowed snakes to capture, manipulate, and swallow prey exclusively using their heads using the coordinated movement of eight bones. Despite these unique feeding behaviors, patterns of evolutionary integration and modularity within the feeding bones of snakes in a phylogenetic framework have yet to be addressed. Here, we use a dataset of 60 μCT‐scanned skulls and high‐density geometric morphometric methods to address the origin and patterns of variation and integration in the feeding bones of aquatic‐foraging snakes. By comparing alternate superimposition protocols allowing us to analyze the entire kinetic feeding system simultaneously, we find that the feeding bones are highly integrated, driven predominantly by functional selective pressures. The most supported pattern of modularity contains four modules, each associated with distinct functional roles: the mandible, the palatopterygoid arch, the maxilla, and the suspensorium. Further, the morphological disparity of each bone is not linked to its magnitude of integration, indicating that integration within the feeding system does not strongly constrain morphological evolution, and that adequate biomechanical solutions to a wide range of feeding ecologies and behaviors are readily evolvable within the constraint due to integration in the snake feeding system.

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“…Snail-eating species of Pareinae are unique among terrestrial vertebrates in having asymmetric lower jaws, with more teeth on the right mandible than on the left ( Hoso, Asami & Hori, 2007 ; Hoso et al, 2010 ). Due to the specialized feeding habit and foraging behaviour, the evolutionary biology of Pareas has received much attention in recent years ( Götz, 2002 ; Hoso & Hori, 2006 , 2008 ; Hoso, 2007 ; Hoso, Asami & Hori, 2007 ; Hoso et al, 2010 ; You, Poyarkov & Lin, 2015 ; Danaisawadi et al, 2015 , 2016 ; Kojima et al, 2020 ; Chang et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative taxonomic revision of slug-eating snakes (Squamata: Pareidae: Pareineae) reveals unprecedented diversity in Indochina

Poyarkov

Nguyen

Pawangkhanant

et al. 2022

PeerJ

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Slug-eating snakes of the subfamily Pareinae are an insufficiently studied group of snakes specialized in feeding on terrestrial mollusks. Currently Pareinae encompass three genera with 34 species distributed across the Oriental biogeographic region. Despite the recent significant progress in understanding of Pareinae diversity, the subfamily remains taxonomically challenging. Here we present an updated phylogeny of the subfamily with a comprehensive taxon sampling including 30 currently recognized Pareinae species and several previously unknown candidate species and lineages. Phylogenetic analyses of mtDNA and nuDNA data supported the monophyly of the three genera Asthenodipsas, Aplopeltura, and Pareas. Within both Asthenodipsas and Pareas our analyses recovered deep differentiation with each genus being represented by two morphologically diagnosable clades, which we treat as subgenera. We further apply an integrative taxonomic approach, including analyses of molecular and morphological data, along with examination of available type materials, to address the longstanding taxonomic questions of the subgenus Pareas, and reveal the high level of hidden diversity of these snakes in Indochina. We restrict the distribution of P. carinatus to southern Southeast Asia, and recognize two subspecies within it, including one new subspecies proposed for the populations from Thailand and Myanmar. We further revalidate P. berdmorei, synonymize P. menglaensis with P. berdmorei, and recognize three subspecies within this taxon, including the new subspecies erected for the populations from Laos and Vietnam. Furthermore, we describe two new species of Pareas from Vietnam: one belonging to the P. carinatus group from southern Vietnam, and a new member of the P. nuchalis group from the central Vietnam. We provide new data on P. temporalis, and report on a significant range extension for P. nuchalis. Our phylogeny, along with molecular clock and ancestral area analyses, reveal a complex diversification pattern of Pareinae involving a high degree of sympatry of widespread and endemic species. Our analyses support the “upstream” colonization hypothesis and, thus, the Pareinae appears to have originated in Sundaland during the middle Eocene and then colonized mainland Asia in early Oligocene. Sundaland and Eastern Indochina appear to have played the key roles as the centers of Pareinae diversification. Our results reveal that both vicariance and dispersal are responsible for current distribution patterns of Pareinae, with tectonic movements, orogeny and paleoclimatic shifts being the probable drivers of diversification. Our study brings the total number of Pareidae species to 41 and further highlights the importance of comprehensive taxonomic revisions not only for the better understanding of biodiversity and its evolution, but also for the elaboration of adequate conservation actions.

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Mandibular sawing in a snail-eating snake

Cited by 9 publications

References 15 publications

Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand

Eviscerated alive: Novel and macabre feeding strategy in Oligodon fasciolatus (Günther, 1864) eating organs of Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Schneider, 1799) in Thailand

Morphological integration and modularity in the hyperkinetic feeding system of aquatic‐foraging snakes

An integrative taxonomic revision of slug-eating snakes (Squamata: Pareidae: Pareineae) reveals unprecedented diversity in Indochina

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