| evolution of rattlesnakes (viperidae; crotalus) in the warm deserts of western north america shaped by neogene vicariance and quaternary climate change. | during pleistocene, the laurentide ice sheet rearranged and diversified biotic distributions in eastern north america, yet had minimal physical impact in western north america where lineage diversification is instead hypothesized to result from climatic changes. if pleistocene climatic fluctuations impacted desert species, the latter would reflect patterns of restricted gene flow concomitant with indications of demographic bottlenecks. accordingly, molecular evidence for refugia should be presen ... | 2006 | 16968275 |
| rapid upregulation of snake intestine in response to feeding: a new model of intestinal adaptation. | mammalian guts exhibit numerous adaptive responses to feeding. however, response magnitudes are often inconveniently modest for experimental analysis, because mammals feed often and their intestines are rarely empty. we anticipated larger responses in sit-and-wait foraging snakes, because they consume huge meals at long intervals. hence, we studied metabolic rates, brush-border nutrient transport, and intestinal morphometrics in the rattlesnake, crotalus cerastes, as a function of time since fee ... | 1994 | 8179004 |
| muscular mechanisms of snake locomotion: an electromyographic study of the sidewinding and concertina modes of crotalus cerastes, nerodia fasciata and elaphe obsoleta. | synchronized electromyography and cinematography were used to determine the muscle activity of colubroid snakes during sidewinding and concertina locomotion. the primary muscles studied were the three largest, most superficial epaxial muscles: the mm. semispinalis-spinalis, longissimus dorsi and iliocostalis. sidewinding locomotion of nerodia fasciata and crotalus cerastes was the result of continuous posterior propagation of contractile blocks consisting of several adjacent muscle segments. dur ... | 1988 | 3204332 |
| absence of prey-chemical preferences in newborn rattlesnakes (crotalus cerastes, c. enyo, and c. viridis). | | 1977 | 901373 |
| effects on temperature and photoperiod on oxygenation and other blood parameters of the sidewinder (crotalus cerastes): adaptive significance. | | 1975 | 236888 |
| hematology of the sidewinder (crotalus cerastes). | | 1975 | 236887 |
| intercontinental test of constraint-breaking adaptations: testing behavioural plasticity in the face of a predator with novel hunting strategies. | constraint-breaking adaptations are evolutionary tools that provide a mechanism for incumbent-replacement between species filling similar ecological roles. in common-garden experiments, we exposed populations of two desert rodents to two different viper species, testing their ability to adjust to novel predators that use different hunting strategies. we aimed to understand whether both predators and prey with constraint-breaking adaptations actually manifest comparative advantage over their coun ... | 2020 | 32271948 |
| side-impact collision: mechanics of obstacle negotiation in sidewinding snakes. | snakes excel at moving through cluttered environments, and heterogeneities can be used as propulsive contacts for snakes performing lateral undulation. however, sidewinding, which is often associated with sandy deserts, cuts a broad path through its environment that may increase its vulnerability to obstacles. our prior work demonstrated that sidewinding can be represented as a pair of orthogonal body waves (vertical and horizontal) that can be independently modulated to achieve high maneuverabi ... | 2020 | 33111708 |
| intraspecific sequence and gene expression variation contribute little to venom diversity in sidewinder rattlesnakes ( crotalus cerastes). | traits can evolve rapidly through changes in gene expression or protein-coding sequences. however, these forms of genetic variation can be correlated and changes to one can influence the other. as a result, we might expect traits lacking differential expression to preferentially evolve through changes in protein sequences or morphological adaptation. given the lack of differential expression across the distribution of sidewinder rattlesnakes ( crotalus cerastes), we tested this hypothesis by com ... | 2019 | 31266424 |
| infrared-sensing snakes select ambush orientation based on thermal backgrounds. | sensory information drives the ecology and behaviour of animals, and some animals are able to detect environmental cues unavailable to us. for example, rattlesnakes use infrared (ir) radiation to detect warm prey at night when visual cues are reduced. until recently these sensory worlds have been inaccessible to human observers; now technology can allow us to "eavesdrop" on these species and understand how sensory perception drives ecology and behaviour. we used thermography and computer simulat ... | 2019 | 30850649 |
| comparative venom-gland transcriptomics and venom proteomics of four sidewinder rattlesnake (crotalus cerastes) lineages reveal little differential expression despite individual variation. | changes in gene expression can rapidly influence adaptive traits in the early stages of lineage diversification. venom is an adaptive trait comprised of numerous toxins used for prey capture and defense. snake venoms can vary widely between conspecific populations, but the influence of lineage diversification on such compositional differences are unknown. to explore venom differentiation in the early stages of lineage diversification, we used rna-seq and mass spectrometry to characterize sidewin ... | 2018 | 30341342 |
| do free-ranging rattlesnakes use thermal cues to evaluate prey? | rattlesnakes use infrared radiation to detect prey animals such as small mammals and lizards. because ectotherm locomotor performance depends on temperature, rattlesnakes could use prey temperature to evaluate the potential of lizards to evade attacks. here, we tested whether hunting rattlesnakes use infrared information to (1) detect and (2) evaluate prey before attack. we expected thermal contrast between prey and background to be the best predictor of predatory behaviour under the prey detect ... | 2018 | 29218413 |
| activity cycles and foraging behaviors of free-ranging sidewinder rattlesnakes (crotalus cerastes): the ontogeny of hunting in a precocial vertebrate. | predators often employ a complex series of behaviors to overcome antipredator defenses and effectively capture prey. although hunting behaviors can improve with age and experience, many precocial species are necessarily effective predators from birth. additionally, many predators experience innate ontogenetic shifts in predatory strategies as they grow, allowing them to adapt to prey more appropriate for their increased size and energetic needs. understanding how the relative roles of innate age ... | 2016 | 26997261 |
| modulation of orthogonal body waves enables high maneuverability in sidewinding locomotion. | many organisms move using traveling waves of body undulation, and most work has focused on single-plane undulations in fluids. less attention has been paid to multiplane undulations, which are particularly important in terrestrial environments where vertical undulations can regulate substrate contact. a seemingly complex mode of snake locomotion, sidewinding, can be described by the superposition of two waves: horizontal and vertical body waves with a phase difference of ± 90°. we demonstrate th ... | 2015 | 25831489 |
| sidewinding with minimal slip: snake and robot ascent of sandy slopes. | limbless organisms such as snakes can navigate nearly all terrain. in particular, desert-dwelling sidewinder rattlesnakes (crotalus cerastes) operate effectively on inclined granular media (such as sand dunes) that induce failure in field-tested limbless robots through slipping and pitching. our laboratory experiments reveal that as granular incline angle increases, sidewinder rattlesnakes increase the length of their body in contact with the sand. implementing this strategy in a physical robot ... | 2014 | 25301625 |
| a case of neurotoxicity following envenomation by the sidewinder rattlesnake, crotalus cerastes. | north american rattlesnake envenomations typically result in local tissue injury and hematologic derangements. neurotoxicity is uncommon but when present often manifests as fasciculations and paresthesias. neurotoxicity following sidewinder (crotalus cerastes) envenomation has not been previously reported. | 2014 | 24414250 |