Iwasaki's snail-eater
| Iwasaki's snail-eater | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Family: | Colubridae |
| Subfamily: | Pareatinae |
| Genus: | Pareas |
| Species: | P. iwasakii |
| Binomial name | |
| Pareas iwasakii (Maki, 1937) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Iwasaki's snail-eater, Pareas iwasakii, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Yaeyama Islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.[2]
Etymology
The specific name, iwasakii, is in honor of Japanese meteorologist Takuji Iwasaki.[3]
Ecology
Snail-eater in action
Skull of Pareas iwasakii
Pareas iwasakii is a snail-eating specialist;[4] even newly hatched individuals feed on snails.[5] It has asymmetric jaws, which facilitates feeding on snails with dextral (clockwise coiled) shells.[6] A consequence of this asymmetry is that Pareas iwasakii is much less adept at preying on sinistral (counterclockwise coiled) snails.[7]
Taxonomy
Originally described as Amblycephalus formosensis iwasakii by Moichirō Maki,[8] it is currently placed in the genus Pareas.[9]
References
- ↑ World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1996). Pareas iwasakii. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 28 July 2007.
- 1 2 Pareas iwasakii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database
- ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pareas iwasakii, p. 131).
- ↑ Hoso, M.; M. Hori (2006). "Identification of molluscan prey from feces of Iwasaki's slug snake, Pareas iwasakii". Herpetological Review. 37: 174–176.
- ↑ Hoso, M. (2007). "Oviposition and hatchling diet of a snail-eating snake Pareas iwasakii (Colubridae: Pareatinae)". Current Herpetology. 26: 41–43. doi:10.3105/1345-5834(2007)26[41:OAHDOA]2.0.CO;2.
- ↑ Hoso, Masaki; Takahiro Asami; Michio Hori (2007). "Right-handed snakes: convergent evolution of asymmetry for functional specialization". Biology Letters. 3 (2): 169–173. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0600. PMC 2375934
. PMID 17307721. - ↑ Hoso, Masaki; Yuichi Kameda; Shu-Ping Wu; Takahiro Asami; Makoto Kato; Michio Hori (2010). "A speciation gene for left-right reversal in snails results in anti-predator adaptation". Nature Communications. 1 (9): 133. doi:10.1038/ncomms1133.
- ↑ Maki, M (1937). "A new subspecies, Amblycephalus formosensis iwasakii, belonging to Amblycephalidae Ishigaki-jima". Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Formosa. 27: 217–218.
- ↑ Ota, Hidetoshi; Jun-Tsong Lin; Toru Hirata; Szu-Lung Chen (1997). "Systematic review of colubrid snakes of the genus Pareas in the East Asian islands". Journal of Herpetology. 31 (1): 79–87. doi:10.2307/1565332. JSTOR 1565332.
Further reading
- Hoso, Masaki; Hori, Michio (2008). "Divergent Shell Shape as an Antipredator Adaptation in Tropical Land Snails". American Naturalist. 172 (5): 726–32. doi:10.1086/591681. PMID 18834301..
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