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Subtle asymmetries in the snail-eating snake Pareas carinatus (Reptilia: Pareatidae)

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Abstract

The snail-eating snake Pareas carinatus tilts its head and strikes leftward or rightward, successfully preying on both dextral and sinistral snails. Striking direction does not depend on prey size or coiling direction. Neither the time from striking until dropping of the shell nor the number of mandibular retractions during feeding was affected by the snake’s striking direction or by the snail’s coiling direction. Mandibular dentition was only slightly right-handed. Unlike previously studied congeneric species, which are more specialized for feeding on dextral snails, P. carinatus may prey on dextral and sinistral snails with similar efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Thailand Research Fund, through the Royal Golden Jubilee PhD Program (PHD/0082/2552). The main research funding support was from the Thailand Research Fund Senior Research Scholar (RTA 5580001). This research was also partially funded by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI 24255004, 26650161) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. We thank members of the Animal Systematics Research Unit, Chulalongkorn University, for assistance with fieldwork.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Science Program, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Patchara Danaisawadi

  2. Animal Systematics Research Unit, Department of Biology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Patchara Danaisawadi, Chirasak Sutcharit & Somsak Panha

  3. Department of Biology, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, 390-8621, Japan

    Takahiro Asami

  4. Institute of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Hyogo, and Museum of Nature and Human Activities, Hyogo, 669-1546, Japan

    Hidetoshi Ota

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  1. Patchara Danaisawadi
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  2. Takahiro Asami
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  3. Hidetoshi Ota
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  4. Chirasak Sutcharit
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  5. Somsak Panha
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Correspondence to Somsak Panha.

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Danaisawadi, P., Asami, T., Ota, H. et al. Subtle asymmetries in the snail-eating snake Pareas carinatus (Reptilia: Pareatidae). J Ethol 33, 243–246 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-015-0432-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-015-0432-x

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