| does sexual selection influence ornamentation of hemipenes in old world snakes? | in the present study, we investigated and documented the morphology of the male copulatory organs (hemipenes) in fifteen wide-ranging snake species. the species represent four families (boidae, colubridae, lamprophiidae, and viperidae) and ten genera. we applied the same preparation techniques for all species, successfully everting and expanding the organs completely. the detailed description of the general morphology of the male copulatory organs was based on 31 specimens. our data were compare ... | 2017 | 28622447 |
| the biogeography of elaphe sauromates (pallas, 1814), with a description of a new rat snake species. | the rat snake genus elaphe once comprised several dozens of species distributed in temperate through tropical zones of the new and old world. based on molecular-genetic analyses in early 2000s, the genus was split into several separate genera, leaving only 15 palearctic and oriental species as its members. one of the three species also occurring in europe is elaphe sauromates, a robust snake from the balkans, anatolia, caucasus, ponto-caspian steppes, and levant that has been suspected to be com ... | 2019 | 31179175 |