Most snakes have a longitudinal groove on the underside of the head between large, paired chin shields and smaller gular scales. This is referred to as Mental groove. [1]
Most snakes have a longitudinal groove on the underside of the head between large, paired chin shields and smaller gular scales. This is referred to as Mental groove. [1]
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes. Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads with their highly mobile jaws. To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung. Some species retain a pelvic girdle with a pair of vestigial claws on either side of the cloaca. Lizards have evolved elongate bodies without limbs or with greatly reduced limbs about twenty-five times independently via convergent evolution, leading to many lineages of legless lizards. These resemble snakes, but several common groups of legless lizards have eyelids and external ears, which snakes lack, although this rule is not universal.
Elapidae is a family of venomous snakes characterized by their permanently erect fangs at the front of the mouth. Many members of this family are also recognized by their threat display of rearing upwards while spreading the neck-flap. Elapids are endemic to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, with terrestrial forms in Asia, Australia, Africa, and the Americas and marine forms in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Members of the family have a wide range of sizes, from the 18 cm (7.1 in) white-lipped snake to the 5.85 m king cobra. Most species have neurotoxins in their venom which is channeled by their hollow fangs, while some may contain other toxic components in various proportions. The family includes 55 genera with some 360 species and over 170 subspecies.
The boomslang is a large, highly venomous snake in the family Colubridae.
Russell's viper is a venomous snake in the family Viperidae native to the Indian subcontinent and one of the big four snakes in India. It was described in 1797 by George Shaw and Frederick Polydore Nodder, and named after Patrick Russell, who wrote about it in his 1796 work An account of Indian serpents, collected on the coast of Coromandel.
Gular skin, in ornithology, is an area of featherless skin on birds that joins the lower mandible of the beak to the bird's neck. Other vertebrate taxa may have a comparable anatomical structure that is referred to as either a gular sac, throat sac, vocal sac or gular fold.
The Cylindrophiidae are a monotypic family of secretive, semifossorial, non-venomous snakes containing the genus Cylindrophis found in southeastern Asia. These are burrowing snakes and most have a banded pattern on the belly. Currently, thirteen species are recognized, with no subspecies. Common names include Asian pipe snakes or Asian cylinder snakes.
Monilesaurus ellioti, or Elliot's forest lizard, is a species of arboreal, diurnal, lizard in the family Agamidae, endemic to the Western Ghats, India.
The Caucasian agama is a species of agamid lizard found in the Caucasus, E/S Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Dagestan (Russia), E Turkey, Iraq, N Iran, Afghanistan, NW Pakistan, and parts of Kashmir.
The Indian golden gecko or Beddome's golden gecko is a species of gecko known only from the Eastern Ghats of India. It was rediscovered from the hills near present-day Tirupati. The rediscovery was after over 100 years since its description.
Ophisops jerdonii, commonly known as Jerdon's cabrita, Jerdon's snake-eye, or Punjab snake-eyed lacerta, is a species of lacertid lizard, which is distributed in east Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Ophisops microlepis, the small-scaled lacerta, is a species of lizards found in parts of India.
Snakes, like other reptiles, have skin covered in scales. Snakes are entirely covered with scales or scutes of various shapes and sizes, known as snakeskin as a whole. A scale protects the body of the snake, aids it in locomotion, allows moisture to be retained within, alters the surface characteristics such as roughness to aid in camouflage, and in some cases even aids in prey capture. The simple or complex colouration patterns are a property of the underlying skin, but the folded nature of scaled skin allows bright skin to be concealed between scales then revealed in order to startle predators.
Sea kraits are a genus of venomous elapid sea snakes, Laticauda. They are semiaquatic, and retain the wide ventral scales typical of terrestrial snakes for moving on land, but also have paddle-shaped tails for swimming. Unlike fully aquatic ovoviviparous sea snakes, sea kraits are oviparous and must come to land to digest prey and lay eggs. They also have independent evolutionary origins into aquatic habitats, with sea kraits diverging earlier from other Australasian elapids. Thus, sea kraits and sea snakes are an example of convergent evolution into aquatic habitats within the Hydrophiinae snakes. Sea kraits are also often confused with land kraits , which are not aquatic.
Calamodontophis ronaldoi is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to southern Brazil.
Frode Bovim is a Norwegian sailor.
The angulate tortoise is a species of tortoise found in dry areas and coastal scrub vegetation in South Africa. This tortoise is the only known member of the genus Chersina.
The eastern worm snake is a subspecies of the worm snake, Carphophis amoenus, a non-venomous colubrid endemic to the Eastern Woodlands region of North America. The species' range extends from southwest Massachusetts, south to southern Alabama, west to Louisiana and north to Illinois. This species is common in the ecotone between woodlands and wetlands. It may also be found in grasslands adjacent to woodlands. Though this snake can be abundant in parts of its range, it is rarely seen because of its fossorial lifestyle. When not underground, C. a. amoenus resides mostly under rocks, logs and leaf litter, or burrowed within rotting woody debris.
Uatchitodon is an extinct genus of Late Triassic reptile known only from isolated teeth. Based on the structure of the teeth, Uatchitodon was probably a carnivorous archosauromorph. Folded grooves on the teeth indicate that the animal was likely venomous, with the grooves being channels for salivary venom. The teeth are similar to those of living venomous squamates such as Heloderma and venomous snakes. Uatchitodon is the earliest known venomous reptile.
Dendrelaphis girii, or Giri's bronzeback tree snake, is a species of diurnal, arboreal, Colubrid snake endemic to the Western Ghats of southwestern India.
Carphophis amoenus, commonly known as the worm snake, is a species of nonvenomous colubrid endemic to the eastern United States. C. amoenus can be found east of the Mississippi, from southwest Massachusetts south to southern Alabama west to Louisiana and then north to Illinois. This species of snake protects a large range, and normally prefers a moist habitat in the rocky woodlands, under rotten wood of logs and stumps. Though this snake is quite abundant over its range, it is rarely seen because of its dormant lifestyle and where it usually resides. This snake is most common on the edges or in the ecotonal areas of open to thick woodlands, and the borders of wetlands. It may also be found in the grasslands next to woodlands. The best chance to spot it is after heavy rains, when its small size and distinct color make it easy to spot. This species prefers moist soil inhabited by earthworms, which are its main prey, so the soil needs to be sufficiently moist. The snake's skin naturally evaporates water; so the soil needs to be moist enough to offset this. C. amoenus is mostly found under rocks and in sufficient leaf litter during the extreme daytime heat.
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