Antipredation behavior covaries with body size in Neotropical snakes
In: Amphibia-ReptiliaSearch for other papers by David M. Delaney in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
The use of defensive behaviors to avoid predation increases the likelihood of survival. Snake species have evolved numerous and diverse antipredatory behaviors to fit a variety of natural histories. Understanding how snakes react to simulated predation events can help us understand their ecology. I conducted behavioral trials on 11 colubrid and dipsadid species (
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Allf, B.C., Durst, P.A., Pfennig, D.W., McPeek, M.A. (2016): Behavioral plasticity and the origins of novelty: the evolution of the rattlesnake rattle. Am. Nat. 188: 475-483.
-
Arnold, S.J., Bennett, A.F. (1984): Behavioural variation in natural populations. III: antipredator displays in the garter snake Thamnophis radix. Anim. Behav. 32: 1108-1118.
-
Barnard, C.J. (1983): Anti-predator behaviour. In: Animal Behaviour: Ecology and Evolution, pp. 201-217. Barnard, C.J., Ed., Croom Helm, London.
-
Bonnet, X., Naulleau, G., Shine, R. (1999): The dangers of leaving home: dispersal and mortality in snakes. Biol. Conserv. 89: 39-50.
-
Bonnet, X., Aubret, F., Lourdais, O., Ladyman, M., Bradshaw, D., Maumelat, S. (2005): Do ‘quiet’ places make animals placid? Island vs. mainland tiger snakes. Ethology 111: 573-592.
-
Brown, W.S., Parker, W.S. (1976): A ventral scale clipping system for permanently marking snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes). J. Herpetol. 10: 247-249.
-
Caldwell, R.L., Dingle, J. (1979): The influence of size differential on agonistic encounters in the mantis shrimp, Gonodactylus viridis. Behaviour 69: 255-264.
-
Cooper Jr, W.E., Vitt, L.J. (1987): Deferred agonistic behavior in a long-lived scincid lizard Eumeces laticeps. Oecologia 72: 321-326.
-
Cope, E.D. (1861): Catalogue of the colubrids in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Part 3. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 12: 553-566.
-
Cope, E.D. (1868): An examination of the Reptilia and Batrachia obtained by the Orton Expedition to Equador and the Upper Amazon, with notes on other species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 20: 96-140.
-
Cope, E.D. (1875): On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica with notes on the herpetology and ichthyology of Nicaragua and Peru. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 8: 93-183.
-
Daudin, F.M. (1803): Histoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere des Reptiles, vol. 6. F. Dufart, Paris.
-
Donnelly, W.A., Dill, L.M. (1984): Evidence for crypsis in Coho Salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum), parr: substrate colour preference and achromatic reflectance. J. Fish Biol. 25: 183-195.
-
Durso, A.M., Durso, K.P. (2010): A defensive display by a Smooth Earth Snake (Virginia valeriae). IRCF Reptiles and Amphibians. 17: 41.
-
Durso, A.M., Mullin, S.J. (2014): Intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence expression of defensive behavior in Plains Hog-nosed Snakes (Heterodon nasicus). Ethology 120: 140-148.
-
Ernst, C.H., Ernst, E.M. (2003): Snakes of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution, Washington.
-
Fenton, M.B., Licht, L.E. (1990): Why rattle snake? J. Herpetol. 24: 274-279.
-
Fitzgerald, L.A., Painter, C.W. (2000): Rattlesnake commercialization: long-term trends, issues, and implications for conservation. Wildl. Soc. Bull. 28: 235-253.
-
Gibbons, J.W., Dorcas, M.E. (2002): Defensive behavior of cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus) toward humans. Copeia 2002: 195-198.
-
Greene, H.W. (1979): Behavioral convergence in the defensive displays of snakes. Experientia 35: 747-748.
-
Greene, H.W. (1988): Antipredator mechanisms in reptiles. In: Biology of the Reptilia, vol. 16, Ecology B, Defense and Life History, pp. 1-152. Gans, C., Huey, R.B., Eds, Alan R. Liss, New York.
-
Greene, H.W. (1997): Snakes: the Evolution of Mystery in Nature. University of California Press, Berkeley.
-
Gregory, P.T., Isaac, L.A., Griffiths, R.A. (2007): Death feigning by grass snakes (Natrix natrix) in response to handling by human “predators”. J. Comp. Psychol. 121: 123-129.
-
Hailey, A., Davies, P.M.C. (1986): Effects of size, sex, temperature and condition on activity metabolism and defence behaviour of the viperine snake, Natrix maura. J. Zool. 208: 541-558.
-
Hanlon, R.T., Forsythe, J.W., Joneschild, D.E. (1999): Crypsis, conspicuousness, mimicry and polyphenism as antipredator defences of foraging octopuses on Indo-Pacific coral reefs, with a method of quantifying crypsis from video tapes. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 66: 1-22.
-
Harestad, A.S., Bunnel, F.L. (1979): Home range and body weight – a reevaluation. Ecology 60: 389-402.
-
Keogh, J.S., DeSerto, F.F. (1994): Temperature dependent defensive behavior in three species of North American colubrid snakes. J. Herpetol. 28: 258-261.
-
Kissner, K.J., Forbes, M.R., Secoy, D.M. (1997): Rattling behavior of prairie rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis viridis, Viperidae) in relation to sex, reproductive status, body size, and body temperature. Ethology 103: 1042-1050.
-
Klimstra, W.D. (1959): Food habits of the yellow-bellied king snake in southern Illinois. Herpetologica 15: 1-5.
-
Kruuk, H., Mills, M.G. (1983): Notes on food and foraging of the honey badger Mellivora capensis in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Koedoe 26: 153-157.
-
Lack, D. (1946): Competition for food by birds of prey. J. Anim. Ecol. 15: 123-129.
-
Lederhouse, R.C. (1990): Avoiding the hunt: primary defenses of lepidopteran caterpillars. In: Insect Defenses: Adaptive Mechanisms and Strategies of Prey and Predators, pp. 175-189. Evans, D.L., Schmidt, J.O., Eds, State University of New York Press, New York.
-
Lima, S.L. (1998): Stress and decision making under the risk of predation: recent developments from behavioral, reproductive, and ecological perspectives. Adv. Stud. Behav. 27: 215-290.
-
Lima, S.L., Dill, L.M. (1990): Behavioral decisions made under the risk of predation: a review and prospectus. Can. J. Zool. 68: 619-640.
-
Linnaeus, C. (1758): Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata, 10th Edition.. Laurentii Salvii, Holmiæ.
-
Martins, M. (1996): Defensive tactics in lizards and snakes: the potential contribution of the Neotropical fauna. In: Anais do XIV Encontro Anual de Etologia, pp. 185-199. Del Claro, K., Ed., Sociedade Brasileira de Etologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlandia, Brasil.
-
Martins, M., Oliveira, M.E. (1998): Natural history of snakes in forests of the Manaus region, central Amazonia, Brazil. Herpetol. Nat. Hist. 6: 78-150.
-
Martins, M., Marques, O.A., Sazima, I. (2008): How to be arboreal and diurnal and still stay alive: microhabitat use, time of activity, and defense in Neotropical forest snakes. South Am. J Herpetol. 3: 58-67.
-
McCormick, S., Polis, G.A. (1982): Arthropods that prey on vertebrates. Biol. Rev. 57: 29-58.
-
McNab, B.K. (1963): Bioenergetics and the determination of home range size. Am. Nat. 97: 133-140.
-
Middendorf, G.A., Sherbrooke, W.C. (1992): Canid elicitation of blood-squirting in a horned lizard (Phrynosoma cornutum). Copeia 1992: 519-527.
-
Minton, E.J. (1949): Coral snake preyed upon by the bullfrog. Copeia 1949: 288.
-
Mutoh, A. (1983): Death-feigning behavior of the Japanese colubrid snake Rhabdophis tigrinus. Herpetologica 39: 78-80.
-
O’Neill, K.M. (1983): The significance of body size in territorial interactions of male beewolves (Hymenoptera: sphecidae, Philanthus). Anim. Behav. 31: 404-411.
-
Owings, D.H., Coss, R.G. (1977): Snake mobbing by California ground squirrels: adaptive variation and ontogeny. Behaviour 62: 50-68.
-
Panagides, N., Jackson, T.N.W., Ikonomopoulou, M.P., Arbuckle, K., Pretzler, R., Yang, D.C., Ali, S.A., Koludarov, I., Dobson, J., Sanker, B., Asselin, A., Santana, R.C., Hendrikx, I., van der Ploeg, H., Tai-A-Pin, J., van den Bergh, R., Kerkkamp, H.M.I., Vonk, F.J., Naude, A., Strydom, M.A., Jacobsz, L., Dunstan, N., Jaeger, M., Hodgson, W.C., Miles, J., Fry, B.G. (2017): How the cobra got its flesh-eating venom: cytotoxicity as a defensive innovation and its co-evolution with hooding, aposematic marking, and spitting. Toxins 9: 103.
-
Peters, W. (1859): Über die von Hrn. Dr. Hoffmann in Costa Rica gesammelten und an das Königl. Zoologische Museum gesandten Schlangen. Monatsber. Königl. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Berlin.
-
Rabatsky, A.M., Waterman, J.M. (2005): Non-rattling defensive tail display in the dusky pygmy rattlesnake, Sistrurus miliarius barbouri: a previously undescribed behavior. Herpetol. Rev. 36: 236-238.
-
Rafinesque, C.S. (1818): Further accounts of discoveries in natural history in the western States. American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review 4: 41.
-
Rotheray, G.E. (1986): Colour, shape and defence in aphidophagous syrphid larvae (Diptera). Zool. J. Linn. Soc. Lond. 88: 201-216.
-
SAS Institute. (1997): SAS/STAT User’s Guide. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute, Cary, N.C.
-
Sasaki, K., Fox, S.F., Duvall, D. (2009): Rapid evolution in the wild: changes in body size, life-history traits, and behavior in hunted populations of the Japanese mamushi snake. Conserv. Biol. 23: 93-102.
-
Savage, J.M. (2002): The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: a Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
-
Schoener, T.W. (1968): Sizes of feeding territories among birds. Ecology 49: 123-141.
-
Schuett, G.W. (1997): Body size and agonistic experience affect dominance and mating success in male copperheads. Anim. Behav. 54: 213-224.
-
Seigel, R.A. (1993): Summary: future research on snakes, or how to combat “lizard envy”. In: Snakes: Ecology and Behavior, pp. 395-402. Seigel, R.A., Collins, J.T., Eds, The Blackburn Press, New Jersey.
-
Seigel, R.A., Mullin, S.J. (2009): Snake conservation, present and future. In: Snakes: Ecology and Conservation, pp. 281-290. Mullin, S.J., Seigel, R.A., Eds, Cornell University Press, New York.
-
Shine, R., Harlow, P.S. (1999): Reticulated pythons in Sumatra: biology, harvesting and sustainability. Biol. Conserv. 87: 349-357.
-
Shine, R., Olsson, M.M., Lemaster, M.P., Moore, I.T., Mason, R.T. (2000): Effects of sex, body size, temperature, and location on the antipredator tactics of free-ranging gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis, Colubridae). Behav. Ecol. 11: 239-245.
-
Todd, B.D. (2008): Virginia valeriae (Smooth Earth Snake). Threat display. Herpetol. Rev. 39: 475.
-
Tokarz, R.R. (1985): Body size as a factor determining dominance in staged agonistic encounters between male brown anoles (Anolis sagrei). Anim. Behav. 33: 746-753.
-
Turner, F.B., Jennrich, R.I., Weintraub, J.D. (1969): Home ranges and body size of lizards. Ecology 50: 1076-1081.
-
Uetz, P., Hošek, J. (2015): The Reptile Database. Assessible at http://www.reptile-database.org. Accessed 20 August 2015.
-
Urbina-Cardona, J.N. (2008): Conservation of Neotropical herpetofauna: research trends and challenges. Trop. Conserv. Sci. 1: 359-375.
-
Valeix, M., Loveridge, A.J., Chamaillé-Jammes, S., Davidson, Z., Murindagomo, F., Fritz, H., Macdonald, D.W. (2009): Behavioral adjustments of African herbivores to predation risk by lions: spatiotemporal variations influence habitat use. Ecology 90: 23-30.
-
Van Buskirk, J. (1992): Competition, cannibalism, and size class dominance in a dragonfly. Oikos 65: 455-464.
-
Wagler, J. (1824): Serpentum Brasiliensium species novae, ou histoire naturelle des espèces nouvelles de serpens. In: Animalia Nova Sive Species Novae. de Spix, J., Ed., Typis Franc. Seraph. Hübschmanni, Monaco.
-
Weinstein, S.A., Warrell, D.A., White, J., Keyler, D.E. (2011): “Venomous” Bites From Non-Venomous Snakes: a Critical Analysis of Risk and Management of “Colubrid” Snake Bites. Elsevier, Amsterdam.
-
Young, B.A., O’Shea, M. (2005): Analyses of venom spitting in African cobras (Elapidae: Serpentes). Afr. Zool. 40: 71-76.
-
Young, B.A., Boetig, M., Westhoff, G. (2009): Spitting behaviour of hatchling red spitting cobras (Naja pallida). Herpetol. J. 19: 185-191.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 686 | 148 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 55 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 73 | 15 | 4 |
Antipredation behavior covaries with body size in Neotropical snakes
In: Amphibia-ReptiliaSearch for other papers by David M. Delaney in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The use of defensive behaviors to avoid predation increases the likelihood of survival. Snake species have evolved numerous and diverse antipredatory behaviors to fit a variety of natural histories. Understanding how snakes react to simulated predation events can help us understand their ecology. I conducted behavioral trials on 11 colubrid and dipsadid species (
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 686 | 148 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 55 | 6 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 73 | 15 | 4 |