Prey envenomation does not improve digestive performance in western diamondback rattlesnakes (<i>Crotalus atrox</i>)

McCue, Marshall D.

doi:10.1002/jez.411

Cited by 38 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…In contrast to our predictions, the duration of the SDA response in these bats was not significantly shorter than duration values reported among mammals, though it was near the shorter durations reported in similarly sized mammals (McCue, 2007;Secor, 2009). Duration values reported here agree well with apparent gut transit times (i.e.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

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The cost of digestion in the fish-eating myotis (Myotis vivesi)

Welch

Otálora-Ardila

Flores‐Martínez

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Flying vertebrates, such as bats, face special challenges with regards to the throughput and digestion of food. On the one hand, as potentially energy-limited organisms, bats must ingest and assimilate energy efficiently in order to satisfy high resting and active metabolic demands. On the other hand, the assimilation of nutrients must be accomplished using a digestive tract that is, compared with that of similarly sized non-flying vertebrates, significantly shorter. Despite these competing demands, and the relative breadth of dietary diversity among bats, little work has been done describing the cost of digestion, termed 'specific dynamic action' (SDA). Here, we provide the first systematic assessment of the SDA response in a bat, the fisheating myotis (Myotis vivesi). Given the shorter digestive tract and the relatively higher resting and active metabolic rates of bats in general, and based on anecdotal published evidence, we hypothesized that the SDA response in fish-eating myotis would be dependent on meal size and both significantly more brief and intense than in small, nonflying mammals. In agreement with our hypothesis, we found that the peak metabolic rate during digestion, relative to rest, was significantly higher in these bats compared with any other mammals or vertebrates, except for some infrequently eating reptiles and amphibians. Additionally, we found that the magnitude and duration of the SDA response were related to meal size. However, we found that the duration of the SDA response, while generally similar to reported gut transit times in other small bats, was not substantially shorter than in similarly sized non-flying mammals.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

“…; Krishnamoorthy et al, 1979) and multiplying the result by 100 (McCue, 2007;Secor and Diamond, 2000).…”

Section: Feeding Trialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The cost of digestion in the fish-eating myotis (Myotis vivesi)

Welch

Otálora-Ardila

Flores‐Martínez

2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Thomas and Pough (1979) showed that mice envenomated with Crotalus atrox venom were digested faster by several species of non-venomous snakes than were nonenvenomated mice, especially at low temperatures. However, McCue (2007) found no venom effects on DE or speed of digestion in C. atrox itself, while Chu et al (2009) have shown that venom has no beneficial impact on DE for Viridovipera gracilis and V. stejnegeri, even at low temperatures. Our relatively low measures of AAE for H. haemachatus support this conclusion, and the emergent trend, so far, is for venomous snakes to have lower efficiencies than do non-venomous ones.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…These include T b , sex, meal size, body size, season (Bedford & Christian 2000), thermoregulatory opportunities, the effects of venom (Greenwald & Kanter 1979;McCue 2007;Chu et al 2009), clutch effects (Cox & Secor 2007), life history (Tsai et al 2008) and diet (Britt et al 2006). Generally, DE appears to be relatively insensitive to T b (Greenwald & Kanter 1979;Bedford & Christian 2000) over the 'normal thermal range' but Greenwald and Kanter (1979) and Tsai et al (2008) do report decreased DE at low temperatures in Pantherophis guttatus guttatus (as Elaphe guttata guttata; 208C) and Viridovipera stejnegeri (as Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri; 158C), respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assimilation efficiency and gut passage time in an African elapid snake,Hemachatus haemachatus

Alexander

Hanrahan

Mitchell

2012

African Journal of Herpetology

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We measured apparent assimilation efficiency (AAE) and gut passage time in the African elapid snake Hemachatus haemachatus under laboratory conditions. AAE was dependent on food type, being 89.8% when snakes were fed frogs and 82.8% when fed mice. Differences in AAE for different meal types could be ascribed to the indigestible hair in mouse meals because differences were lost once this component of the mouse meals was removed from the calculation. AAE did not depend on snake body mass and there was no significant difference between AAE measures made at 208C and 278C for mouse meals. Gut passage time was 25% faster at 278C than at 208C, but was not affected by food type or snake body mass. Larger meals took longer to digest. Thus, H. haemachatus appears to offset reduced digestive performance at lower temperatures by retaining food in the gut for longer when at lower body temperatures (T b s). These results fit an emerging pattern in snakes whereby digestive efficiency is generally high and insensitive to T b over the selected thermal range, but may become dependent at lower T b s when digestion is eventually arrested. The rate of digestion is highly temperature-sensitive and is fastest in the selected T b range. Diet appears to affect digestive efficiency owing, mainly, to the presence of indigestible components such as hair. Using a comparative framework, venom does not appear to improve digestion for this species, at least over the temperature range tested, relative to other snake species in the literature.

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“…Metalloproteinases in rattlesnake venoms have been suggested to facilitate efficient digestion of prey at suboptimal temperatures or when large prey are consumed (Mackessy, 1988(Mackessy, , 2010a; however, several studies have indicated that envenomation does not increase digestive efficacy (McCue, 2007;Chu et al, 2009). In the case of many rattlesnake species, the extent of SVMP activity in a venom is negatively correlated with overall venom toxicity (Mackessy, 2010a).…”

Section: Digestionmentioning

confidence: 99%