The biter bit? Investigation of possible in-ovo self-envenomation in an Egyptian saw-scaled viper using region of interest X-ray microtomography
1
College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
2
School of Biological Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, United Kingdom
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Animal Behavior, Zoology
- Keywords
- Snake, saw-scaled viper, microCT, region of interest, self-envenomation, X-ray microtomography
- Copyright
- © 2014 Johnston et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2014. The biter bit? Investigation of possible in-ovo self-envenomation in an Egyptian saw-scaled viper using region of interest X-ray microtomography. PeerJ PrePrints 2:e624v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.624v1
Abstract
Proven examples of self-envenomation by venomous snakes, and especially instances of death as a result of these events, are extremely rare, if not non-existent. Here we use Region of Interest X-ray microtomography to investigate a putative case of fatal in-ovo self-envenomation in the Egyptian saw-scaled viper, Echis pyramidum. Our analyses have provided unprecedented insight into the skeletal anatomy of a late-stage embryonic snake and the disposition of the fangs without disrupting or destroying a unique biological specimen.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.