The king of snakes: performance and morphology of intraguild predators (Lampropeltis) and their prey (Pantherophis)
| Autor: | David A. Penning, Brad R. Moon |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine Genus Lampropeltis Physiology Ecology Significant difference Aquatic Science Biology biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Pantherophis Predation Constriction Structure and function 03 medical and health sciences 030104 developmental biology Insect Science Animal Science and Zoology Pull force Molecular Biology Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics Trophic level |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Experimental Biology. 220:1154-1161 |
| ISSN: | 1477-9145 0022-0949 |
| Popis: | Across ecosystems and trophic levels, predators are usually larger than their prey, and when trophic morphology converges, predators typically avoid predation on intraguild competitors unless the prey is notably smaller in size. However, a currently unexplained exception occurs in kingsnakes in the genus Lampropeltis. Kingsnakes are able to capture, constrict and consume other snakes that are not only larger than themselves but that are also powerful constrictors (such as ratsnakes in the genus Pantherophis). Their mechanisms of success as intraguild predators on other constrictors remain unknown. To begin addressing these mechanisms, we studied the scaling of muscle cross-sectional area, pulling force and constriction pressure across the ontogeny of six species of snakes (Lampropeltis californiae, L. getula, L. holbrooki, Pantherophis alleghaniensis, P. guttatus and P. obsoletus). Muscle cross-sectional area is an indicator of potential force production, pulling force is an indicator of escape performance, and constriction pressure is a measure of prey-handling performance. Muscle cross-sectional area scaled similarly for all snakes, and there was no significant difference in maximum pulling force among species. However, kingsnakes exerted significantly higher pressures on their prey than ratsnakes. The similar escape performance among species indicates that kingsnakes win in predatory encounters because of their superior constriction performance, not because ratsnakes have inferior escape performance. The superior constriction performance by kingsnakes results from their consistent and distinctive coil posture and perhaps from additional aspects of muscle structure and function that need to be tested in future research. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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