Crayfish Eating in Snakes: Testing How Anatomy and Behavior Affect Prey Size and Feeding Performance.

ABSTRACT: Quantifying the performance of animals is a powerful methodology for determining the functional consequences of morphological variation. For example, snakes consume prey whole, and variation in the anatomy of their trophic apparatus directly affects gape and limits maximal prey size. However, for the foraging ecology of snakes and other systems, scant data exist regarding how often maximal capacities are taxed in nature. Hence, we quantified: (1) maximal gape, (2) the size of prey relative to maximal gape, and (3) how the type and relative size of prey affected behavior and prey handling times (HTs) for two species of natricine snakes that primarily eat soft- (Regina septemvittata) or hard-shelled (Liodytes alleni) crayfish. Liodytes alleni had significantly larger max

SUBMITTER: Gripshover ND 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8023418 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature