Snakes are a diverse group of squamate reptiles characterized by a unique feeding system
and other traits associated with elongation and limblessness. Despite the description of …

A long‐standing hypothesis for the adaptive radiation of macrostomatan snakes is that their
enlarged gape–compared to both lizards and basal snakes‐enables them to consume …

Snakes are a highly successful group of vertebrates, within great diversity in habitat, diet,
and morphology. The unique adaptations for the snake skull for ingesting large prey in more …

Piscivory has independently evolved numerous times amongst snakes, and therefore these
animals provide a powerful opportunity to test for convergent evolution in a vertebrate …

The concept of ecomorphs, whereby species with similar ecologies have similar phenotypes
regardless of their phylogenetic relatedness, is often central to discussions regarding the …

The skull of squamates has many functions, with food acquisition and ingestion being
paramount. Snakes vary interspecifically in the frequency, size, and types of prey that are …

Anyone can look at a snake and see a creature unique unto itself, a reptile with a set of
zoological and biological traits that are entirely its own. Just looking at this distinct animal …

Venomous snakes are among the world's most specialized predators. During feeding, they
use fangs to penetrate the body tissues of their prey, but the success of this penetration …

The concept of optimal size has been invoked to explain patterns in body size of terrestrial
mammals. However, the generality of this phenomenon has not been tested with similarly …

Body size and body shape are tightly related to an animal's physiology, ecology and life
history, and, as such, play a major role in understanding ecological and evolutionary …