Evidence of predation risk increases with body size in a diminutive snake
Article
Taylor, Q, Cox, CL. (2019). Evidence of predation risk increases with body size in a diminutive snake
. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, 307(2), 141-148. 10.1111/jzo.12627
Taylor, Q, Cox, CL. (2019). Evidence of predation risk increases with body size in a diminutive snake
. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, 307(2), 141-148. 10.1111/jzo.12627
Predator-based selection is ubiquitous and can be a major driver of phenotypic and life-history evolution. However, how characteristics of individual prey species influence predation risk is unknown for many taxa. This dearth of information on what factors can drive predation risk is particularly profound for small terrestrial vertebrates. We focused our research on the rough earth snake (Haldea striatula), which is ideal for this research because they are small, abundant and subject to predation from a host of predators. We then tested for the role of sex, color morph and body size on the likelihood that a snake would experience attempted predation. This was accomplished by coupling the (1) examination of natural history specimens for evidence of predation and (2) use of clay models of rough earth snakes to test for variation in predation in a natural setting. For the natural history study, we found that scars on specimens increased in frequency with body size, but wound frequency did not differ based upon color pattern or sex. For the clay model study, we found that attack rates increased with model size. Our results suggest that predation risk increases with body size in these diminutive snakes, perhaps due to greater detection probability or different predatory assemblages for larger snakes. More broadly, our results suggest that predator-based selection may drive smaller body size, which has implications for understanding the diversity of body size in snakes.
