From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae)
Abstract Many ambush-foraging snakes move their tails to entice prey within striking range (‘caudal luring’). During ontogeny, the conspicuous hues of caudal lures change to match the cryptic patterning of the body/head. This coincides with decreased luring behaviour and reflects the trade-off betwe...
Published in: | Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |
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Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press (OUP)
2021
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-pdf/132/3/666/49200746/blaa218.pdf |
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croxfordunivpr:10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 2023-12-31T09:59:59+01:00 From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) Crowe-Riddell, Jenna M Dix, Stacey Pieterman, Ludo Nankivell, James H Ford, Matthew Ludington, Alastair J Simões, Bruno F Dunstan, Nathan Partridge, Julian C Sanders, Kate L Allen, Luke 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-pdf/132/3/666/49200746/blaa218.pdf en eng Oxford University Press (OUP) https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights Biological Journal of the Linnean Society volume 132, issue 3, page 666-675 ISSN 0024-4066 1095-8312 Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2021 croxfordunivpr https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 2023-12-06T08:52:22Z Abstract Many ambush-foraging snakes move their tails to entice prey within striking range (‘caudal luring’). During ontogeny, the conspicuous hues of caudal lures change to match the cryptic patterning of the body/head. This coincides with decreased luring behaviour and reflects the trade-off between prey acquisition and camouflage as the snake grows. Australo-Papuan death adders (Acanthophis, Elapidae) are unique in that both juveniles and adults use caudal luring, but ontogenetic colour change has not been investigated. We examined the spectral reflectance, microstructure and pigmentation of caudal skin in wild-sourced and captive bred Acanthophis antarcticus ranging in body size (snout-vent length 116–674 mm; mass 3–832 g; N = 33) to test whether colour properties change as snakes grow. We found that lure colour is distinct from the cryptic body skin across the life history, and changes from a matte banding pattern (grey/black) in neonates/juveniles, to uniform and glossy black with a yellow ventral stripe in larger snakes. These colour changes are caused by increases in dermal pigmentation and a transition to a smooth, interlocking epidermal microstructure. To understand the selection pressures that might be driving ontogenetic colour change in this species, further studies should test how different prey types respond to distinct lure morphologies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* antarcticus Oxford University Press (via Crossref) Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 132 3 666 675 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Oxford University Press (via Crossref) |
op_collection_id |
croxfordunivpr |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Crowe-Riddell, Jenna M Dix, Stacey Pieterman, Ludo Nankivell, James H Ford, Matthew Ludington, Alastair J Simões, Bruno F Dunstan, Nathan Partridge, Julian C Sanders, Kate L Allen, Luke From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
topic_facet |
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Many ambush-foraging snakes move their tails to entice prey within striking range (‘caudal luring’). During ontogeny, the conspicuous hues of caudal lures change to match the cryptic patterning of the body/head. This coincides with decreased luring behaviour and reflects the trade-off between prey acquisition and camouflage as the snake grows. Australo-Papuan death adders (Acanthophis, Elapidae) are unique in that both juveniles and adults use caudal luring, but ontogenetic colour change has not been investigated. We examined the spectral reflectance, microstructure and pigmentation of caudal skin in wild-sourced and captive bred Acanthophis antarcticus ranging in body size (snout-vent length 116–674 mm; mass 3–832 g; N = 33) to test whether colour properties change as snakes grow. We found that lure colour is distinct from the cryptic body skin across the life history, and changes from a matte banding pattern (grey/black) in neonates/juveniles, to uniform and glossy black with a yellow ventral stripe in larger snakes. These colour changes are caused by increases in dermal pigmentation and a transition to a smooth, interlocking epidermal microstructure. To understand the selection pressures that might be driving ontogenetic colour change in this species, further studies should test how different prey types respond to distinct lure morphologies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Crowe-Riddell, Jenna M Dix, Stacey Pieterman, Ludo Nankivell, James H Ford, Matthew Ludington, Alastair J Simões, Bruno F Dunstan, Nathan Partridge, Julian C Sanders, Kate L Allen, Luke |
author_facet |
Crowe-Riddell, Jenna M Dix, Stacey Pieterman, Ludo Nankivell, James H Ford, Matthew Ludington, Alastair J Simões, Bruno F Dunstan, Nathan Partridge, Julian C Sanders, Kate L Allen, Luke |
author_sort |
Crowe-Riddell, Jenna M |
title |
From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
title_short |
From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
title_full |
From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
title_fullStr |
From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
title_full_unstemmed |
From matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( Acanthophis antarcticus, Reptilia: Elapidae) |
title_sort |
from matte banded to glossy black: structures underlying colour change in the caudal lures of southern death adders ( acanthophis antarcticus, reptilia: elapidae) |
publisher |
Oxford University Press (OUP) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article-pdf/132/3/666/49200746/blaa218.pdf |
genre |
Antarc* antarcticus |
genre_facet |
Antarc* antarcticus |
op_source |
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society volume 132, issue 3, page 666-675 ISSN 0024-4066 1095-8312 |
op_rights |
https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaa218 |
container_title |
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society |
container_volume |
132 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
666 |
op_container_end_page |
675 |
_version_ |
1786844433895915520 |