adders with no scales

[boconnor]

Did anyone see the totally wild program this afternoon? They had some death adders that were born without scales. Very unusual looking. Has this been reported in any other species?

cheers
Ben

 

[wattso]

I saw it too, very odd. wonder if its a genetic abnormality caused by inbreeding or something?
would think they would dehydrate easily. Nice cunninghams skinks on the show too.

 

[Brodie]

Yea saw it in herpetofauna ages ago!! very cool looking I must say!!!! according to the article in there there has been more then one case

 

[Fuscus]

I've got the herpetofauna article in front of me. in breif : Breeder is in Brissie, species was Acanthophis antarcticus. 23 live young on 5/02/2003, six scaleless. Animals had trouble shedding but were otherwise healthy.
Condition has been seen in seven Nth. American species, normally in inbred lines, but wild animals reported. Litter portions are consistant with single autosomal recessive gene.
At time of writing all scaleless snakes were feeding normally

The author is a guy called Eric Vanderduys. Do a google on his name, he has done other work.

 

[saikrett]

i recon they looked cool, but i think any snake looks cool

 

[snakehunter]

yea their colour was brighter than the scaled sibling

 

[Fuscus]

There is a color photo of the scaleless DA on the cover of the Herpetfauna (June 2003). The colors remind me of a juvenile spencers monitor but with a touch of pale lemon.
A standard DA has alternating bands running down its length. When the animal is scaled the lines look wavey. Without the scales the banding looks smoother. Unfortunatly I can't find the photo on the net.

 

[snakehunter]

scan the pic off the cover

 

[Fuscus]

I'd like too but thats a bit too close to copyright infrigment for my liking. The summary of his article is at the limits of my bravery. I'll try and get permission first.