‘Handedness’ in snakes? Lateralization of coiling behaviour in a cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma, population

Roth, Eric D.

doi:10.1006/anbe.2003.2228

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…This seems to imply an early evolutionary origin of morphological asymmetry, in accord with the current hypothesis that behavioral laterality, which at least sometimes accompanies the morphological asymmetry (Robins and Rogers 2002;Seligmann 2002;Shine et al 2005), had appeared early in vertebrate evolution (reviewed by Bisazza et al 1998;Roth 2003; and see below).…”

Section: Morphological Directional Asymmetrysupporting

confidence: 62%

“…Laterality has been observed in representatives of all major vertebrate groups, and this has been interpreted as resulting from its early origin in the common ancestor of the Vertebrata Roth 2003). Besides the laterality of visual Welds and the associated contralateral brain parts discussed above, conspicuous phenomena include laterality in limb use.…”

Section: Implications For Homo Sapiensmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Shine et al (2000) reported from Thamnophis sirtalis (Linné, 1758) (Colubridae) a larger hemipenis on the right side, accompanied with a signiWcant preference to mate using the right hemipenis when mating at high ambient temperature. Roth (2003) described only behavioral laterality in the direction of defensive coiling, clockwise or anti-clockwise, in Agkistrodon piscivorus (Lacépède, 1789) (Viperidae: Crotalinae). The subsample of adults was signiWcantly biased to clockwise coiling but this was individually signiWcant only for 3 of the 16 individuals coiling clockwise.…”

Section: Functional Directional Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 98%

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Directional asymmetry and correlation of tail injury with left-side dominance occur in Serpentes (Sauropsida)

2007

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Recent evidence on directional asymmetry (DA) in species of the paraphyletic assemblage "Lacertilia" indicates a possible biological signiWcance of this phenomenon, and we tested its occurrence in Serpentes by examining bilateral morphological characters, such as the numbers of supralabial and infralabial scutes and the diameter of the eyes, on both sides of museum specimens of seven species: Coronella austriaca, Elaphe longissima, Hierophis viridiXavus, Natrix natrix, Natrix tessellata, Platyceps saharicus, and Vipera aspis. SigniWcant DA (not antisymmetry) occurred in at least one sex of four species and in two characters: H. viridiXavus-the number of infralabial scutes in males; N. tessellata-the diameter of the eyes in males; P. saharicus-the number of infralabial scutes in males and the diameter of the eyes in females; and V. aspisthe number of infralabial scutes in the pooled sexes. In N. tessellata and P. saharicus the DA varied geographically. Rank correlation between the DA of diVerent characters, positive or negative, was signiWcant in one character pair in each of three species. In the largest sample (N. tessellata males from the Levant), tail injury correlated with morphological left-dominant asymmetry (a greater number on the left) of infralabial scutes. Four of ten morphologically left-dominant males, but only 1 of 37 symmetrical or right-dominant males, had an injured tail. The syndrome of morphological DA with functional handicap may be genotypical or phenotypical. Our results support three earlier conclusions: bilateral characters should be examined on both sides of an animal; asymmetry should be analyzed separately in each sex; and the accident proneness of left-handed Homo sapiens merits re-evaluation in view of the apparently wide-spread accident proneness in leftbiased Sauropsida (exclusive of Aves).

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Section: Morphological Directional Asymmetrysupporting

confidence: 62%

Section: Implications For Homo Sapiensmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Functional Directional Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 98%

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Directional asymmetry and correlation of tail injury with left-side dominance occur in Serpentes (Sauropsida)

2007

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Section: Developmental Noise (In)stability and Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The asymmetrical use of left and right body parts appears to be very common throughout the world of animals. Snakes appear to show lateralization of coiling behaviour (Roth, 2003); octopus eye use appears to show an antisymmetric pattern (Byrne et al, 2004); toads have lateralized use of hind-and forelimb (Robins et al, 1998); humpback whales show behavioural asymmetries (Clapham et al, 1995) and fish may show a preferred direction by which they pass a barrier to reach a target (Bisazza et al, 2000). These behavioural differences might in some cases result in asymmetries that are not the result of DI, complicating the interpretation of patterns.…”

Section: Other Forms Of Asymmetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuating asymmetry and developmental instability in evolutionary biology: past, present and future

Dongen

2006

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

497

399

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The role of developmental instability (DI), as measured by fluctuating asymmetry (FA), in evolutionary biology has been the focus of a wealth of research for more than half a century. In spite of this long period and many published papers, our current state of knowledge reviewed here only allows us to conclude that patterns are heterogeneous and that very little is known about the underlying causes of this heterogeneity. In addition, the statistical properties of FA as a measure of DI are only poorly grasped because of a general lack of understanding of the underlying mechanisms that drive DI. If we want to avoid that this area of research becomes abandoned, more efforts should be made to understand the observed heterogeneity, and attempts should be made to develop a unifying statistical protocol. More specifically, and perhaps most importantly, it is argued here that more attention should be paid to the usefulness of FA as a measure of DI since many factors might blur this relationship. Furthermore, the genetic architecture, associations with fitness and the importance of compensatory growth should be investigated under a variety of stress situations. In addition, more focus should be directed to the underlying mechanisms of DI as well as how these processes map to the observable phenotype. These insights could yield more efficient statistical models and a unified approach to the analysis of patterns in FA and DI. The study of both DI and canalization is indispensable to obtain better insights in their possible common origin, especially because both have been suggested to play a role in both micro‐ and macro‐evolutionary processes.

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Hand preference in unimanual and bimanual tasks and postural effect on manual laterality in captive red‐capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus)

Blois‐Heulin

Guitton

Nedellec-Bienvenue

et al. 2006

American J Primatol

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Hand preference in 11 captive red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus) was examined under different conditions: a free situation during spontaneous food processing, three different postural conditions (brachiating, and bipedal and tripedal standing), and a situation involving bimanual processing. Generally, individual laterality was found regardless of the task and behavior involved. However, the number of monkeys with hand preferences and the strength of the preference increased with the complexity of the tasks. The monkeys exhibited a significantly higher and positive mean manual preference index (HI) when they were hanging than when they were quadrupedal or sitting. The strength of manual preference (ABS-HI) was in turn higher when the monkeys were hanging or bipedal than when they were quadrupedal. The strength of manual preference was higher for both the bimanual and experimental tasks than for unimanual tasks and spontaneous activities. Although our sample was too small to allow us to make any generalizations concerning lateral preferences in red-capped mangabeys, we propose some hypotheses about the influence of posture stability and task complexity.

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‘Handedness’ in snakes? Lateralization of coiling behaviour in a cottonmouth, Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma, population

Cited by 24 publications

References 31 publications

Directional asymmetry and correlation of tail injury with left-side dominance occur in Serpentes (Sauropsida)

Directional asymmetry and correlation of tail injury with left-side dominance occur in Serpentes (Sauropsida)

Fluctuating asymmetry and developmental instability in evolutionary biology: past, present and future

Hand preference in unimanual and bimanual tasks and postural effect on manual laterality in captive red‐capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus torquatus)

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