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Science 7 April 1978:
Vol. 200. no. 4337, pp. 74 - 77
DOI: 10.1126/science.635575
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Articles

Science, Vol 200, Issue 4337, 74-77
Copyright © 1978 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Behavior and phylogeny: constriction in ancient and modern snakes

HW Greene and GM Burghardt

Comparative analyses of behavior have an underappreciated potential for revealing the role of ethoecological factors in the origins of higher taxa. Twenty-seven species (13 genera) in the advanced family Colubridae exhibited 19 patterns of coil application; one or two patterns were usually consistent within a genus. Forty-eight species (26 genera) in the primitive families Acrochordidae, Aniliidae, Boidae, and Xenopeltidae usually used a single pattern, despite differences in age, size, shape, habitat, and diet. This implies the shared retention of an action pattern used by their common ancestor no later than the early Paleocene. Constriction must have been used as a prey-killing tactic very early in the history of snakes and might have been a behavioral "key innovation" in the evolution of their unusual jaw mechanism.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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The mechanics of swallowing and the muscular control of diverse behaviours in gopher snakes.
B. Moon (2000)
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Lizard Tail Autotomy: Function and Energetics of Postautotomy Tail Movement in Scincella lateralis.
B. E. DIAL and L. C. FITZPATRICK (1983)
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