APS Trivia

[wattso]

it can detect light with receptor in tail, possible aids navigation or mating in dark crevice by moonlight(romantic)lol probly to find their way to surface to breath every hour or so.

[almaron]

It is clearly a solar collector array for charging it's batteries.

[Morelia_man]

its to attract food. for example the little fish (lunch) will see the light and go and see what it is then gobble gobble no more fish. cos its so dark where they live it really stands out.... just a guess

[Magpie]

Ummm receptors don't usually give much light out to use as a lure.
I could be wrong but they usually receive light, hence 'receptors'..

[Slateman]

Thank you for your answers people. Some of them can be right, but not proven. Nobody really know yet.
1 point is going to reptile rascal for answering first ...ah the function of the tail is not known...

Score so far:

Fangs 1 point
reptile rascal 4+1/2 points
Astrobeca 1/2 point
Fuscus 1 point
Morelia man 1/2 point
brendan_spencer 1/2 point

Another question:

To which living snake is Acrochordidae closely related ? And how many species is in this superfamily worldwide?

[ReptileRascals]

3 species in the family..
Closely related to blind snakes...

Javan Wart Snake

Family Acrochordidae (Wart Snakes)
Only 3 species belong to this family.

Appearance: Heavy-bodied snakes with skin lying loose in folds. Scales small, granular and non-overlapping, giving a rugose texture with the interstitial skin forming bristle-tipped tubercles. Adapted to aquatic lifestyle by dorsally-shifted eyes, valvular nostrils, and a flap for closing the lingual opening of the mouth. Acrochordus granulatus has a laterally compressed tail and lingual salt glands.

Size: 60-180 cm snout-vent length.

Distribution: Indo-Australian region

Habitat: Aquatic; estuarine-marine (Acrochordus granulatus) or living in freshwater (A. arafurae, A. javanicus).



Wart Snake (Acrochordus granulatus) © Ashok Captain

Food: mainly fish.

Reproduction: Ovoviviparous with litters ranging from 2 to 32 neonates (A. javanicus). Clutch size is correlated with body size. Acrochordus granulatus: 4-8 neonates.

Behavior: Slowly moving and swimming animals which often remain under water for a considerable time. On land they can move only clumsily

Taxonomy: The systematic status of the Acrochordidae has been unclear for many years: some authors placed them within the colubrids (as a subfamily), others such as UNDERWOOD (1967) placed them within the Henophidia. More recent authors placed the acrochordids within the caenophidian radiation (GROOMBRIDGE 1984, RIEPPEL 198.


Click on genus to get a list of species. Use (HELP) for more sophisticated searches.



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List of Genera:

Acrochordus


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References:

Groombridge, B. C. 1984
The facial carotid artery in snakes (Reptilia, Serpentes) Variations and possible cladistic significance.
Amphibia-Reptilia 5: 145-155

Lillywhite, Harvey B. 1991
The biology and conservation of acrochordid snakes.
Hamadryad 16: 1-9

Murphy, J.C. 1988
An overview of the Asian file snakes, family Acrochordidae.
Chicago Herpet. Soc., Bull. 23(1): 1-4.

Rieppel, Olivier 1988
A review of the origin of snakes.
Evolutionary Biology 22: 37-130

Shine, Richard;Harlow, Peter;Keogh, J. Scott;Boeadi 1995
Biology and commercial utilization of acrochordid snakes, with special reference to Karung (Acrochordus javanicus).
Journal of Herpetology 29 (3): 352-360

Underwood, Gath 1967
A comprehensive approach to the classification of higher snakes.
Herpetologica 23 (2): 161-168

[ReptileRascals]

Acrochordidae = the wart snake or file snake family.
So the Javan wart snake isn't closely related it is part of the same family...

[python_guy44]

um brendan spencer, this is supposed to be your knowledge not what you can find on the so you can copy and paste....

I didnt i am a super quick typer ............................................. RUN

[earthmother]

Acrochordus javanicus - javan wart snake.... nasty name for a pretty snake

[Magpie]

Nah, I like the dog faced water snake.
That's a great name (Bockadam)

[Slateman]

answer should be: They are not closely related to any living snakes we know of. This superfamily have 3 species.

1/2 point to reptile rascal.

Score so far:

Fangs 1 point
reptile rascal 5 points
Astrobeca 1/2 point
Fuscus 1 point
Morelia man 1/2 point
brendan_spencer 1/2 point

Player who will get first 7 points will be nominated to run his own trivia in the forum.

Next question

In which year was inland taipan recognized as valid species?

[ReptileRascals]

1879 it was discovered but was virtually unknown to science untill 1974