Abstract

To date there are few quantitative studies investigating the evolution of tooth shape and function in aglyphous snakes in relation to diet. A considerable evolutionary decrease in body size is observed in whip snakes of the genus Dolichophis and their sister-group Eirenis. This was coupled with a considerable shift in diet from a regime consisting mainly of prey with endoskeleton to prey bearing a hard exoskeleton. Three-dimensional (3D) geometric morphometrics revealed that the maxillary and palatine teeth of E. persicus are blunt and conical in shape, while the same teeth are sharp and elongated in E. punctatolineatus and D. schmidti. Blunt and conically shaped teeth, as observed in E. persicus, seem to be more adapted for biting hard-bodied, arthropod prey. In contrast, the sharp and elongated teeth in Dolichophis and E. punctatolineatus, are likely specialized for puncturing prey with an endoskeleton. The results of a finite element analysis confirms that during the biting of a hard-bodied prey, the generated stresses in E. persicus teeth are well below the von Mises yield criterion, while in D. schmidti the value is roughly two to three times higher, indicating that E. persicus teeth are better suited for biting hard-bodied prey such as arthropods.

中文翻译：

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从三维几何形态学和有限元分析推断出的蛇蝎共生蛇的牙齿形状适应

摘要

迄今为止，很少有定量的研究来研究饮食中的蛇形蛇的牙齿形状和功能的演变。在Dolichophis属的鞭蛇及其姊妹群Eirenis中观察到体型的进化显着减少。与此相伴的是，饮食结构从主要由带有内骨骼的猎物到带有坚硬外骨骼的猎物的饮食结构发生了重大转变。三维（3D）几何形态测量显示，上颌骨和牙齿腭E. persicus是钝和圆锥形，而同齿尖锐，在伸长E. punctatolineatus和D. schmidti。钝齿和圆锥形牙齿，如在E. persicus似乎更适合咬强壮的节肢动物猎物。相反，Dolichophis和E.punctatolineatus中尖锐而细长的牙齿很可能专门用来刺穿带有内骨骼的猎物。有限元分析证实的结果，一个硬体猎物的咬期间，在产生的应力E. persicus齿远低于冯米塞斯屈服准则，而在D. schmidti的值是大约两到三倍高，这表明大肠杆菌（E. persicus）牙齿更适合咬食节肢动物等强壮的猎物。