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A. Total body radiographic image in latero-lateral projection of a dead C. austriaca and its prey, and B. CT image of the same animal, 3D image reconstruction (60mAs i 130 kV, 0.6mm SD)
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Context 1
... Poland) with the tail of a slow-worm Anguis fragilis sticking out of its mouth. The snake had no external signs of being run over by car or bicycle, had no wounds and also did not look starved or weakened. X-ray examination was performed with the use of computed radiography by Konika Minolta (Regius Model 110s) and Siemens Polydoros LX 30 lamp (Fig. 1A). Computed tomography was performed with the use of the Siemens 16 slice CT scanner (Fig. 1B). The body length and diameter of both the snake and slow worm were measured and both were ...
Context 2
... had no external signs of being run over by car or bicycle, had no wounds and also did not look starved or weakened. X-ray examination was performed with the use of computed radiography by Konika Minolta (Regius Model 110s) and Siemens Polydoros LX 30 lamp (Fig. 1A). Computed tomography was performed with the use of the Siemens 16 slice CT scanner (Fig. 1B). The body length and diameter of both the snake and slow worm were measured and both were ...
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Citations
... Anguidae), but the information regarding these snakes' diet was obtained usually through analyses of their faeces or regurgitated stomach contents (GODDARD, 1984;READING and JOFRÉ, 2013;BROWN et al., 2014;JOFRE and READING, 2020;JOHANSEN et al., 2024). There is even a record of a smooth snake ending up dead after consuming a large slow worm (KOLANEK et al., 2020). However, regarding direct observations of C. austriaca consuming A. fragilis, only a photograph was found from Croatia (GUNTER), and a video from England (MELLOWSHIP, 2012). ...
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In a previously unreported UTM square, a citizen spotted a smooth snake feeding on a slow worm. Although not a spectacular finding, this is a new distributional record for both species and a nice example of how an expert NGO can help inform and educate laypeople regarding wildlife.
... There are few published records of P. apodus being preyed upon by snakes (e.g., Jovanović, 2009;Kukushkin, 2013;Stille and Stille, 2017;Plettenberg-Laing and Mee, 2020), but only Safaei-Mahroo et al. (2017) previously observed an adult being predated on. Kolanek et al. (2020) reported a smooth snake, Coronella austriaca (Laurenti, 1768), dying after ingesting a slow worm, Anguis fragilis, a member of the family Anguidae. The predating snake had an SVL of 34 cm whilst the prey item had a total length of 18.3 cm, therefore a length ratio of 1:0.5 was significantly smaller than the ratio recorded in the observation here of 1:0.9. ...
... The predating snake had an SVL of 34 cm whilst the prey item had a total length of 18.3 cm, therefore a length ratio of 1:0.5 was significantly smaller than the ratio recorded in the observation here of 1:0.9. The unsuccessful predation of the comparably smaller individual reported by Kolanek et al. (2020) further emphasises the magnitude of the predator-prey interaction reported here. ...
... The swallowing started when the western whip snake was likely dead. The absence of its corpse, as well as that of the predator itself, is a possible indication of the success of predation, since death can occur in cases of feeding on legless reptiles (Kolanek et al., 2020). ...
In this manuscript the authors report the first case of predation on Hierophis viridiflavus by an adult Coronella austriaca.
Secondly, two cases of predation on Vipera aspis reported by D'Amico M. are showed.
Escalante E.I., Zdunek P., Kolanek, A. 2023. Predation by a smooth snake Coronella austriaca of an aspic viper Vipera aspis in Spain. Herpetological Bulletin 163: 44–45.
The advanced snakes (Alethinophidia) include the extant snakes with a highly evolved head morphology providing increased gape and jaw flexibility. Along with other physiological and morphological adaptations, this allows them to immobilize, ingest, and transport prey that may be disproportionately large or presents danger to the predator from bites, teeth, horns, or spines. Reported incidents of snakes failing to consume prey and being injured or killed during feeding mostly reflect information in the form of natural‐history notes. Here we provide the first extensive review of such incidents, including 101 publications describing at least 143 cases of mortality (including six of ‘multiple individuals’) caused by ingestion or attempted consumption of injurious prey. We also report on 15 previously unpublished injurious feeding incidents from the USA, Austria, and Bulgaria, including mortality of five juvenile piscivorous dice snakes (Natrix tessellata) from a single location. Occurrences are spread across taxa, with mortality documented for at least 73 species from eight families and 45 genera. Incidents were generally well represented within each of three major categories: oversized prey (40.6%), potentially harmful prey (40.6%), and predator's behavioural/mechanical errors (18.9%). Reptile (33%) and fish (26%) prey caused disproportionately high mortality compared to mammals (16%). Feeding can be dangerous throughout a snake's life, with the later stages of feeding likely being more perilous. The number of reports has increased over time, and the data seem biased towards localities with a higher number of field‐working herpetologists. We propose a standardized framework, comprising a set of basic information that should ideally be collected and published, and which could be useful as a template for future data collection, reporting, and analyses. We conclude that incidents of mortality during feeding are likely to be more common than previously assumed, and this hypothesis has implications for the ecology of persistence where populations are impacted by changing trophic environments.
