SREL Reprint #2873

Do thermal cues influence the defensive strike of cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus)?

Xavier Glaudas and J. Whitfield Gibbons

University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802 USA

Introduction: Crotaline snakes (family Viperidae, subfamily Crotalinae) are unique among snakes in the possession of facial pits situated on each side of the head between the nostril and the eye (Klauber, 1972). These organs are depressions with highly innervated membranes at their bases that have a heat-sensing function and that transmit information to the part of the brain that receives visual data (Desmoulins, 1824; Bullock and Diecke, 1956; Barrett, 1970; Hartline et al., 1978). Thus, pitvipers can detect temperatures through the radiant heat energy emitted by objects and/or organisms relative to the background temperature. . . We conducted a simple experiment to test the influence of warm thermal cues on the defensive strike of a pitviper species, the cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus).

SREL Reprint #2873

Glaudas, X. and J. W. Gibbons. 2005. Do thermal cues influence the defensive strike of cottonmouths (Agkistrodon piscivorus)? Amphibia-Reptilia 26:264-267.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).