Reticulated pythons roll their hemimandibles and splay their quadrates to engulf enormous prey


SOCIETY FOR INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY
2021 VIRTUAL ANNUAL MEETING (VAM)
January 3 – Febuary 28, 2021

Meeting Abstract


98-12  Sat Jan 2  Reticulated pythons roll their hemimandibles and splay their quadrates to engulf enormous prey Capano, JG*; Kaczmarek, EB; Lomax, JJ; Turner, ML; Brainerd, EL; Ryerson, WG; Brown University, Providence, RI; Brown University; Brown University; Brown University; Brown University; Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH john_capano@brown.edu http://www.johngcapano.com

Macrostomy in snakes enables these gape-limited predators to swallow enormous prey that have large cross-sectional areas. This is permitted by the combination of their extensible soft tissues and highly kinetic cranial skeletons. Although previous studies hypothesized how cranial bones displace during ingestion, no direct measurements have been made. We used XROMM to quantify motions of the braincase, maxilla, palatines, pterygoids, quadrates, and hemimandibles during intraoral prey transport in reticulated pythons, Malayopython reticulatus. We confirmed previous hypotheses that the ipsilateral maxilla and palatopterygoid jaw operate as a functional unit to anchor the braincase during contralateral protraction. We found that maximal gape and mandibular advancement were associated with substantial pitch (elevation), substantial yaw (protraction), and moderate roll (long-axis) rotations of the quadrate. Our data confirmed other hypotheses of moderate yaw rotation between the dentary and compound of each hemimandible. Similar to previous studies, we also found large long-axis rotations of the hemimandibles during advancement, which disengage the teeth from the prey. These roll rotations then reversed to re-engage the toothrow and grasp the prey before contralateral advances. We hypothesize these rotations prevent tooth engagement during hemimandible swings and reduce ingestion time. We unexpectedly found that, during hemimandible roll, the saddle joint between the quadrate and mandible dislocated, with displacements greater than 10 millimeters. These data suggest that hemimandibular long-axis rotations may be more ubiquitous than assumed within vertebrate feeding mechanisms and integral to the evolution of macrostomy in snakes.

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