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Pelvic spurs (also known as vestigial legs) are external protrusions found around the cloaca in certain superfamilies of snakes belonging to the greater infraorder Alethinophidia. [1] These spurs are made up of the remnants of the femur bone, which is then covered by a corneal spur, or claw-like structure. [ 1 ]
A hemipenis (pl.: hemipenes) is one of a pair of intromittent organs of male squamates (snakes and lizards). [1] [2] [3] Hemipenes are usually held inverted within the body, and are everted for reproduction via erectile tissue, much like that in the human penis. They come in a variety of shapes, depending on species, with ornamentation such as ...
Eupodophis was a marine snake that lived in the Mediterranean Tethys Ocean. It had a laterally compressed body and short, paddle-like tail. The vertebrae and ribs of Eupodophis are pachyostotic, or thickened, as an adaptation to a marine lifestyle. The pelvic bones are small and weakly attached to each other.
A number of birds have spurs on their feet or legs, usually formed from the lower portion of the tarsometatarsus bone. Best known are the spurs on chicken, though most galliform birds bear spurs. The spurs are mostly found in males, and used in mating competition or territory defence. Some birds have spurs on the wings rather than the legs.
Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joints than their lizard ancestors, enabling them to swallow prey much larger than their heads (cranial kinesis). To accommodate their narrow bodies, snakes' paired organs (such as kidneys) appear one in front of the other instead of side by side, and most have only one functional lung.
[10]: 11 [11] Pythons and boas—primitive groups among modern snakes—have vestigial hind limbs: tiny, clawed digits known as anal spurs, which are used to grasp during mating. [ 10 ] : 11 [ 12 ] The Leptotyphlopidae and Typhlopidae groups also possess remnants of the pelvic girdle, sometimes appearing as horny projections when visible.
Venomous, but very rare, these critically endangered rattlesnakes prefer to keep their coils on the ground but are still amazing climbers and have been found in trees as high up as 80 feet.They're ...
Other shared characteristics include an absent left oviduct in four of the five families, aside from the Anomalepididae, which have a well developed yet reduced left oviduct. [3] Aside from this, these snakes range in length from 10 to 100 cm (4 to 39 in). Their typical body shapes include slender, cylindrical bodies and small, narrow heads. [14]