Infrared-sensitive pit organ and trigeminal ganglion in the crotaline snakes

Moon, Changjong

doi:10.5115/acb.2011.44.1.8

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Crotalines (the pitvipers) are distinguished by the presence of a facial or loreal pit on each side of the head, between the eye and the nostril. The loreal pits are integumentary invaginations, each crossed by a highly innervated membrane, located in cavities of the maxillary bones (Brattstrom, 1964;Hofstadler Deiques, 2002;Moon, 2011). These organs function as thermal radiation receptors involved in prey acquisition, predator detection and thermoregulatory behaviour in general (Greene, 1992(Greene, , 1997Krochmal et al, 2004;Gower et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total‐evidence phylogeny and evolutionary morphology of New World pitvipers (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae)

et al. 2023

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Crotalines (pitvipers) in the Americas are distributed from southern Canada to southern Argentina, and are represented by 13 genera and 163 species that constitute a monophyletic group. Their phylogenetic relationships have been assessed mostly based on DNA sequences, while morphological data have scarcely been used for phylogenetic inquiry. We present a total‐evidence phylogeny of New World pitvipers, the most taxon/character comprehensive phylogeny to date. Our analysis includes all genera, morphological data from external morphology, cranial osteology and hemipenial morphology, and DNA sequences from mitochondrial and nuclear genes. We performed analyses with parsimony as an optimality criterion, using different schemes for character weighting. We evaluated the contribution of the different sources of characters to the phylogeny through analyses of reduced datasets and calculation of weighted homoplasy and retention indexes. We performed a morphological character analysis to identify synapomorphies for the main clades. In terms of biogeography, our results support a single colonization event of the Americas by pitvipers, and a cladogenetic event into a Neotropical clade and a North American/Neotropical clade. The results also shed light on the previously unstable position of some taxa, although they could not sufficiently resolve the position of Bothrops lojanus, which may lead to the paraphyly of either Bothrops or Bothrocophias. The morphological character analyses demonstrated that an important phylogenetic signal is contained in characters related to head scalation, the jaws and the dorsum of the skull, and allowed us to detect morphological convergences in external morphology associated with arboreality.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Total‐evidence phylogeny and evolutionary morphology of New World pitvipers (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae)

et al. 2023

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“…The pit organ is a recently derived organ in infrared-sensing snakes and is composed of a thin membrane innervated by three branches of primary afferent nerve fibres (one ramus ophthalmicus branch and two ramus maxillary branches) originating at the trigeminal ganglion (TG) (figure 1 c,d ) [14]. Pit-bearing snakes have enlarged TGs compared with those of mammals while snakes without pits, such as Vipera ammodytes , lack this structure [12,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative genomics sheds new light on the convergent evolution of infrared vision in snakes

Zou,

Huang,

Tian

et al. 2024

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Infrared vision is a highly specialized sensory system that evolved independently in three clades of snakes. Apparently, convergent evolution occurred in the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 ( TRPA1 ) proteins of infrared-sensing snakes. However, this gene can only explain how infrared signals are received, and not the transduction and processing of those signals. We sequenced the genome of Xenopeltis unicolor , a key outgroup species of pythons, and performed a genome-wide analysis of convergence between two clades of infrared-sensing snakes. Our results revealed pervasive molecular adaptation in pathways associated with neural development and other functions, with parallel selection on loci associated with trigeminal nerve structural organization. In addition, we found evidence of convergent amino acid substitutions in a set of genes, including TRPA1 and TRPM2 . The analysis also identified convergent accelerated evolution in non-coding elements near 12 genes involved in facial nerve structural organization and optic nerve development. Thus, convergent evolution occurred across multiple dimensions of infrared vision in vipers and pythons, as well as amino acid substitutions, non-coding elements, genes and functions. These changes enabled independent groups of snakes to develop and use infrared vision.

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“…Crotalines possess a pair of heat-sensing organs, the loreal pits, which are unique among snakes. These organs are invaginations of the skin located between the eyes and nostrils, each consisting of a highly innervated membrane (Brattstrom, 1964;Hofstadler Deiques, 2002;Moon, 2011), that function as thermal receptors involved in foraging, antipredator behavior, and thermoregulation (Gower et al, 2019;Greene, 1992Greene, , 1997Krochmal et al, 2004). The shapes of the maxilla and the prefrontal in crotalines accommodate the loreal pits.…”

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confidence: 99%

Patterns of morphological variation and ecological correlates in the skull of vipers (Serpentes: Viperidae)

Carrasco,

Prystupczuk,

Koch

et al. 2023

Journal of Morphology

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The skull of vipers is a highly kinetic anatomical structure involved in envenomating and consuming of prey. Morphological knowledge about the viperid skull is based on studies on some groups of species, but information on its variation within the whole family and its functional morphology is still scarce. In this study, we aimed to explore variation in skull morphology among species of the three subfamilies of Viperidae, and test whether that variation correlates with macrohabitat and diet. We performed quantitative analyses of the viperid skull based on broad taxonomic sampling and two methodological approaches: linear and geometric morphometrics. The results of both approaches showed that much of the variation lies in differences of shape and relative size of the premaxilla, the nasals, the frontals, and the parietals. The results indicated that phylogeny and size influence the shape of the skull, but we also found evidence of morphological differentiation between arboreal and terrestrial species and in species with mammal specialist diet. Our findings imply that, besides evolutionary allometry and phylogenetic signal, demands of particular diets coupled with use of certain habitats have in part shaped morphological evolution of the viperid skull.

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Infrared-sensitive pit organ and trigeminal ganglion in the crotaline snakes

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

Total‐evidence phylogeny and evolutionary morphology of New World pitvipers (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae)

Total‐evidence phylogeny and evolutionary morphology of New World pitvipers (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalinae)

Comparative genomics sheds new light on the convergent evolution of infrared vision in snakes

Patterns of morphological variation and ecological correlates in the skull of vipers (Serpentes: Viperidae)

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