2007/02/13 by Masaki Hoso, Takahiro Asami, Michio Hori · 1 voice · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Mathematics · Neuroscience · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience #Morphological variations and asymmetry
paper · doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0600
openalex publication_date 2007/02/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
External asymmetry found in diverse animals bears critical functions to fulfil ecological requirements. Some snail-eating arthropods exhibit directional asymmetry in their feeding apparatus for foraging efficiency because dextral (clockwise) species are overwhelmingly predominant in snails. Here, we show convergence of directional asymmetry in the dentition of snail-eating vertebrates. We found that snakes in the subfamily Pareatinae, except for non-snail-eating specialists, have more teeth on the right mandible than the left. In feeding experiments, a snail-eating specialist Pareas iwasakii completed extracting a dextral soft body faster with fewer mandible retractions than a sinistral body. The snakes failed in holding and dropped sinistral snails more often owing to behavioural asymmetry when striking. Our results demonstrate that symmetry break in dentition is a key innovation that has opened a unique ecological niche for snake predators.