THE FUNCTION OF THE EPIGLOTTIS IN SOUND PRODUCTION (HISSING) OF PITUOPHIS MELANOLEUCUS.-Since
نویسنده
چکیده
THE FUNCTION OF THE EPIGLOTTIS IN SOUND PRODUCTION (HISSING) OF PITUOPHIS MELANOLEUCUS.-Since White (1884) first related the enlarged epiglottis of Pituophis to the quality and unusual loudness of the sound production (hissing) in these snakes, a number of workers have discussed this functional relationship. The enlarged epiglottis of Pituophis, a generic characteristic (Cope, 1891), forms a planar, keel-shaped structure lying in the median saggital plane immediately anterior to the rima-glotidis (Fig. 1). The posterior edge of the epiglottal keel bisects the air stream from the larynx during exhalant hissing. Klauber (1947, 1956), Perkins (1938), and Ditmars (1944) suggested that the epiglottis amplifies the sound of the hiss; while White (1884) and Bogert (1960) believed that the epiglottis also vibrates in the airstream, lending a pulsed quality to the sound. We present experimental evidence confirming sound amplification by the epiglottis in Pituophis melanoleucus. The five male P. melanoleucus used in
منابع مشابه
Molecular systematics of new world gopher, bull, and pinesnakes (Pituophis: Colubridae), a transcontinental species complex.
Pituophis melanoleucus (gopher, bull, and pinesnakes) is among the most widely distributed polytypic species complexes in North America, with most authors recognizing from a single transcontinental species (the melanoleucus complex, composed of 15 subspecies) to four (monotypic and polytypic) species. We used mitochondrial gene sequences from the two middle American species, P. deppei and P. li...
متن کاملCone-like rhodopsin expressed in the all-cone retina of the colubrid pine snake as a potential adaptation to diurnality.
Colubridae is the largest and most diverse family of snakes, with visual systems that reflect this diversity, encompassing a variety of retinal photoreceptor organizations. The transmutation theory proposed by Walls postulates that photoreceptors could evolutionarily transition between cell types in squamates, but few studies have tested this theory. Recently, evidence for transmutation and rod...
متن کاملPost-cranial prey transport mechanisms in the black pinesnake, Pituophis melanoleucus lodingi: an x-ray videographic study.
Most previous studies of snake feeding mechanisms have focused on the functional morphology of the highly specialized ophidian jaw apparatus. Although some of these studies have included observations of post-cranial movements during feeding, the functional roles of these movements have remained poorly understood. In this study, we used x-ray videography to examine post-cranial prey transport me...
متن کاملTesting an inference of function from structure: snake vertebrae do the twist.
The zygapophyses and zygosphene-zygantrum articulations of snake vertebrae are hypothesized to restrict or eliminate vertebral torsion. This hypothesis is apparently based solely on the inference of function from structure, despite the limitations of such inferences, as well as contradictory observations and measurements. In this study, I observed and measured axial torsion in gopher snakes, Pi...
متن کامل