SMITH, T.L.; KARDONG, K.V.: Poststrike chemosensory trailing in rattlesnakes: Kinematics and function of tongue-flicking Rattlesnakes in the wild usually strike, envenomate, and release rodent prey. Released rodent prey dash off from the snake some distance before succumbing to the immobilizing, and eventually, lethal effects of the venom, leaving the snake with the task of recovering […]

HERREL, A; O’REILLY, J.C.; RICHMOND, A.M.: Ontogenetic and evolutionary scaling of bite performance in turtles The design of the trophic apparatus and patterns of resource use often show tight correlations. Yet, relations between head shape and bite performance are often inferred from biomechanical models. Here we test how head size and shape influence bite performance […]

MEYERS, J.J.; HERREL, A.; MEAD, J.: Morphology of the feeding apparatus of the Australian thorny devil (Moloch horridus) The thorny devil (Moloch horridus) is an Australian agamid lizard that has a specialized diet consisting only of ants. As with many species having specialized diets, it has been suggested that M. horridus shows morphological adaptations related […]

METZGER, K.A.*; HERREL, A: Inertial feeding in reptiles: the role of skull mass reduction Kinetic inertial feeding is a stereotypic form of prey transport which is utilized to move large food items from the jaw tips into, and through the oral cavity. Once the food item is grasped in the jaws, the head and neck […]

FOURNIER, Francois; GAUTHIER, Gilles; Universite de Moncton; Universite Laval: The effect of food quality on developmental plasticity and digestive efficiency in greater snow goose goslings Geese, one of the few herbivorous groups of birds, face a series of unique constraints during growth. (1) Goslings must feed by themselves (precocial); (2) they must attain a large […]

SHERRARD, K.M.; University of Chicago: The biomechanics and ontogeny of fatal constipation in the brooding sea squirt Corella inflata Corella inflata is a species of solitary ascidian which broods by retaining its buoyant embryos in an inflated region of tunic near the excurrent siphon. This novel morphology has a negative consequence, apparently unique among ascidians, […]

DIMOCK, RV, Jr*; ALDRIDGE, DC; Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC; University of Cambridge, UK: Role reversal in symbiosis: functional morphology of larval fish in a mussel’s gills The life cycle of most freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) includes a larva, the glochidium, which must become parasitic on a fish host to complete its development. In a […]

JOHNSON, AS*; ELLERS, O; WINDECKER, L; Bowdoin College; Bowdoin College; Bowdoin College: Power Law Scaling of Growth in Sea Urchins In contrast to field populations in which growth rates are described by Tanaka functions, under conditions where food is plentiful, sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis), that are smaller than 20 mm, grow at rates that are […]

LARSON, P.M.; Ohio University: Morphometric analysis of chondrocranial anatomy and ontogenetic allometry in larval Bufo americanus (Anura: Bufonidae) Available descriptions of chondrocranial morphology among Bufo tadpoles are inconsistent, the range of variation in chondrocranial structure is not well defined, and no detailed quantitative descriptions of cranial ontogeny currently exist for the genus. This study describes […]

MCCOMBE, A.C.*; BJORNDAL, K.A.; BOLTEN, A.B.; Univ. of Florida, Gainesville; Univ. of Florida, Gainesville; Univ. of Florida, Gainesville: Compensatory Growth in Chelonia mydas Many organisms demonstrate plasticity in growth under different environmental conditions. Compensatory growth, a period of accelerated growth during increased food intake following nutritional deprivation, is an example of a plastic growth response […]