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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: amaral@storeria.bio.ou.edu
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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

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