The evolution of feeding morphology and design in snakes and lizards

Photo by Shawn Vincent

Collaborations with a former student (Shawn Vincent) and Anthony Herrel have examined interelationships among diet, head morphology, and feeding behavior and performance in various water snakes, including the pit-viper Agikistridon piscivorous (i.e., the cottonmouth). Snakes are renowened for consuming large prey without the aid of appendages, and the North American radiation of water snakes presents an amazing case study of adaption for feeding on elusive prey (i.e., fish and frogs), often in open water. We have been studying both the mechanistic basis of such feeding behaviors (e.g., kinematics), as well as the ecological and behavioral consequences for adapting to different kinds of prey. Our work relates diet, morphometrics, kinematics, and field ecology of snakes to shed light on borader issues of how these amazing animals have invaded aquatic habitats.

Relevant literature:

Vincent S, Herrel A, Irschick DJ.  2004.  Ontogeny of intersexual head shape and prey selection in the pitviper Agkistrodon piscivorus.  Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.  81:151-159.

Vincent S, Herrel A, Irschick DJ.  2004.  Sexual dimorphism in head shape and diet in the cottonmouth snake (Agkistrodon piscivorus).  Journal of Zoology, London.  264:53-59.

Vincent S, Herrel A, Irschick DJ.  2005.  Comparisons of aquatic vs. terrestrial strike kinematics and performance in a pitviper, Agkistrodon piscivorus.  Journal of Experimental Zoology.  303A:476-488.

Vincent SE, Dang P, Irschick DJ, Rossell J.  2006.  Do juvenile gape-limited predators compensate for their small size when feeding?  Journal of Zoology, London.  268:279-284.