The underappreciated extent of cannibalism and ophiophagy in African cobras

Maritz, Bryan; Alexander, Graham J.; Maritz, Robin

doi:10.1002/ecy.2522

Cited by 24 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Further, these results indicate that the selectivity of a particular toxin class may vary from that of the overall diet, thus suggesting that some taxa are more vulnerable to a particular toxin type and thus this component of the venom may be used for a particular function. Consistent with this, the data on cobra crude venom and alpha-cobratoxin binding (Figures 1 and 2) highlight some significant preference to specific mimotopes that correlate with a major prey items but do not account for the full range of known prey items of Naja species [33][34][35][36][37]. Therefore, other toxins with different functions within the venom (e.g., coagulotoxic and myotoxic PLA 2 s) [42,43] may play an equally important role in biochemically immobilising different taxa types.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 54%

“…Cobras are known to be prey generalists feeding on a range of different taxa [33][34][35][36][37]. Amphibians, reptiles (particularly snakes), and mammals are common prey types of most Naja species [33,34,[36][37][38]. This broad diet across Naja species highlights their ecological plasticity and in part might explain their successful diversification across Africa and Asia.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Appetite for Destruction: Detecting Prey-Selective Binding of α-Neurotoxins in the Venom of Afro-Asian Elapids

Harris

Zdenek

Harrich

et al. 2020

Toxins

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Prey-selective venoms and toxins have been documented across only a few species of snakes. The lack of research in this area has been due to the absence of suitably flexible testing platforms. In order to test more species for prey specificity of their venom, we used an innovative taxonomically flexible, high-throughput biolayer interferometry approach to ascertain the relative binding of 29 α-neurotoxic venoms from African and Asian elapid representatives (26 Naja spp., Aspidelaps scutatus, Elapsoidea boulengeri, and four locales of Ophiophagus hannah) to the alpha-1 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor orthosteric (active) site for amphibian, lizard, snake, bird, and rodent targets. Our results detected prey-selective, intraspecific, and geographical differences of α-neurotoxic binding. The results also suggest that crude venom that shows prey selectivity is likely driven by the proportions of prey-specific α-neurotoxins with differential selectivity within the crude venom. Our results also suggest that since the α-neurotoxic prey targeting does not always account for the full dietary breadth of a species, other toxin classes with a different pathophysiological function likely play an equally important role in prey immobilisation of the crude venom depending on the prey type envenomated. The use of this innovative and taxonomically flexible diverse assay in functional venom testing can be key in attempting to understanding the evolution and ecology of α-neurotoxic snake venoms, as well as opening up biochemical and pharmacological avenues to explore other venom effects.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Appetite for Destruction: Detecting Prey-Selective Binding of α-Neurotoxins in the Venom of Afro-Asian Elapids

Harris

Zdenek

Harrich

et al. 2020

Toxins

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show abstract

“…Our approach has enormous potential beyond our usage of it, and we look forward to seeing its application in multiple ecological and evolutionary contexts. Even within our own dataset, we have only begun to explore the full potential of our data by addressing species-specific questions ( Layloo, Smith & Maritz, 2017 ; Maritz, Alexander & Maritz, 2019 ; Maritz et al., 2019 ; Smith et al, 2019 ). However, the dataset lends itself to addressing other questions such as seasonality in feeding and prey preference, intraguild predation, and the evolution of diet.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing for science: high-resolution trophic interactions revealed rapidly by social media

Maritz

2020

PeerJ

Self Cite

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Discrete, ephemeral natural phenomena with low spatial or temporal predictability are incredibly challenging to study systematically. In ecology, species interactions, which constitute the functional backbone of ecological communities, can be notoriously difficult to characterise especially when taxa are inconspicuous and the interactions of interest (e.g., trophic events) occur infrequently, rapidly, or variably in space and time. Overcoming such issues has historically required significant time and resource investment to collect sufficient data, precluding the answering of many ecological and evolutionary questions. Here, we show the utility of social media for rapidly collecting observations of ephemeral ecological phenomena with low spatial and temporal predictability by using a Facebook group dedicated to collecting predation events involving reptiles and amphibians in sub-Saharan Africa. We collected over 1900 independent feeding observations using Facebook from 2015 to 2019 involving 83 families of predators and 129 families of prey. Feeding events by snakes were particularly well-represented with close to 1,100 feeding observations recorded. Relative to an extensive literature review spanning 226 sources and 138 years, we found that social media has provided snake dietary records faster than ever before in history with prey being identified to a finer taxonomic resolution and showing only modest concordance with the literature due to the number of novel interactions that were detected. Finally, we demonstrate that social media can outperform other citizen science image-based approaches (iNaturalist and Google Images) highlighting the versatility of social media and its ability to function as a citizen science platform.

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“…As the generic epithet suggests, king cobras are thought to specialize on snake prey. Documenting feeding habits of snakes in nature can be difficult due to their low detectability and long intervals between feeding bouts (Maritz et al 2018). Radiotelemetry allows researchers to reliably locate individuals, making it possible to document predation by direct observation in the field.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supposed snake specialist consumes monitor lizards: diet and trophic implications of king cobra feeding ecology

Jones

Crane

Silva

et al. 2020

Ecology

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The underappreciated extent of cannibalism and ophiophagy in African cobras

Cited by 24 publications

References 13 publications

An Appetite for Destruction: Detecting Prey-Selective Binding of α-Neurotoxins in the Venom of Afro-Asian Elapids

An Appetite for Destruction: Detecting Prey-Selective Binding of α-Neurotoxins in the Venom of Afro-Asian Elapids

Sharing for science: high-resolution trophic interactions revealed rapidly by social media

Supposed snake specialist consumes monitor lizards: diet and trophic implications of king cobra feeding ecology

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