Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:26:35.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lip-curling in redbelly snakes (Storeria occipitomaculata): functional morphology and ecological significance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1999

José Pedro Sousa do Amaral
José Pedro Sousa do Amaral
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Central Michigan University, Mt Pleasant, MI 48859, U.S.A. Current address: Department of Zoology, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Redbelly snakes Storeria occipitomaculata have a characteristic agonistic display involving conspicuous lip-curling and head distortion. The lip-curling and head distortion display is similar to head shape-changes during feeding. Storeria occipitomaculata produced mouth secretions while displaying. Micrographs of maxillae and observation of changes in head configuration showed that the lip-curling behaviour of S. occipitomaculata is related to the presence of carina-bearing maxillary teeth, which are protruded from the mouth during the display. I compared the behaviour and morphology of this species to other gastropod-eating snakes and suggest that these behavioural and morphological characteristics have a two-fold role: in prey capture they aid the capture, the handling, and perhaps the digestion of prey; in predator deterrence they may act as delivery agents for mouth secretions.

Keywords

redbelly snakeStoreria occipitomaculatalip-curlingbehaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Zoology , Volume 248 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 289 - 293
Copyright
© 1999 The Zoological Society of London

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)