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Description

งูกินทากหัวโหนก.

Aplopeltura boa.

The nonvenomous Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is a serpent looking so weird that it makes one ask: "...how does this animal even work with a head like that?" Being a member of the Pareidae, or pareatid snakes (commonly called slug-eaters or snail-eaters), this snake feeds on slugs. A seemingly strange yet fascinating trait that many members of the Pareidae snakes share is a set of asymmetrical jaws. With this trait, the snakes are able to effectively pull snails from their shells. As most snail shells are dextral (the snail's shell coil being clockwised to the right), pareatid snakes are also "right-handed", meaning that the right mandible is counting more teeth than the left one.

This species lacks the asymmetrical jaws that is otherwise unique to most pareatid snakes, as slugs have no shells and thus don't need to be pulled out. This feature is shared with another species, the Malayan Slug Snake (Asthenodipsas malaccanus), which can be found in the most southern parts of Thailand. Of all the pareatids occuring in Thailand, The Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is the largest, reaching up to 75cm.

Like many other snakes, the Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is also known for feigning deaths, although it differs a bit from the norm. Instead of musking, having its jaw wide open and rolling up the back side of its body like most snakes do when feigning death, A. boa rolls up and displays its front side, having its mouth closed and no musking.

The Aplopeltura genus was long thought to be compounded of only one single species, but in most recent times, it is believed that it can actually be divided into six different species.

(if you ever need a cheer up or something to laugh, just look at pictures of Blunt-Headed Slug Snakes from the front. Skia and I spent a good portion of last night doing this exactly. I just love the ridiculous character mug of this little snake. It's a twig with eyes).

live.staticflickr.com/5450/182…

www.naturepl.com/cache/pcache2…

lh4.ggpht.com/-4ZRmz7WlhCZ3lI_…

Snakes Of Thailand

Description

งูกินทากหัวโหนก.

Aplopeltura boa.

The nonvenomous Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is a serpent looking so weird that it makes one ask: "...how does this animal even work with a head like that?" Being a member of the Pareidae, or pareatid snakes (commonly called slug-eaters or snail-eaters), this snake feeds on slugs. A seemingly strange yet fascinating trait that many members of the Pareidae snakes share is a set of asymmetrical jaws. With this trait, the snakes are able to effectively pull snails from their shells. As most snail shells are dextral (the snail's shell coil being clockwised to the right), pareatid snakes are also "right-handed", meaning that the right mandible is counting more teeth than the left one.

This species lacks the asymmetrical jaws that is otherwise unique to most pareatid snakes, as slugs have no shells and thus don't need to be pulled out. This feature is shared with another species, the Malayan Slug Snake (Asthenodipsas malaccanus), which can be found in the most southern parts of Thailand. Of all the pareatids occuring in Thailand, The Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is the largest, reaching up to 75cm.

Like many other snakes, the Blunt-Headed Slug Snake is also known for feigning deaths, although it differs a bit from the norm. Instead of musking, having its jaw wide open and rolling up the back side of its body like most snakes do when feigning death, A. boa rolls up and displays its front side, having its mouth closed and no musking.

The Aplopeltura genus was long thought to be compounded of only one single species, but in most recent times, it is believed that it can actually be divided into six different species.

(if you ever need a cheer up or something to laugh, just look at pictures of Blunt-Headed Slug Snakes from the front. Skia and I spent a good portion of last night doing this exactly. I just love the ridiculous character mug of this little snake. It's a twig with eyes).

live.staticflickr.com/5450/182…

www.naturepl.com/cache/pcache2…

lh4.ggpht.com/-4ZRmz7WlhCZ3lI_…

Snakes Of Thailand