Snakes can bite; and when venomous, these bites can cause serious harm. But how frequently do snakes actually deploy that venom? We look at a review breaking down current knowledge. We also check out a paper looking at local names for herpetofauna, and whether that is connected to the danger those species pose. Species of the Bi-week returns with another venomous beastie.

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Main Paper References:

Farooq, H., Bero, C., Guilengue, Y., Elias, C., Massingue, Y., Mucopote, I., Nanvonamuquitxo, C., Marais, J., Antonelli, A., & Faurby, S. (2021). Species perceived to be dangerous are more likely to have distinctive local names. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine, 17(69), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-021-00493-6

Pucca, M. B., Knudsen, C., Oliveira, I. S., Rimbault, C., Cerni, F. A., Wen, F. H., Sachett, J., Sartim, M. A., Laustsen, A. H., & Monteiro, W. M. (2020). Current Knowledge on Snake Dry Bites. Toxins, 12(668).

Species of the Bi-Week:

Barbo, F. E., Grazziotin, F. G., Pereira-filho, G. A., Freitas, M. A., Abrantes, S. H. F., & Kokubum, M. N. D. C. (2022). Isolated by dry lands: integrative analyses unveil the existence of a new species and a previously unknown evolutionary lineage of Brazilian Lanceheads (Serpentes : Viperidae : Bothrops) from a Caatinga moist-forest enclave. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 159(January), 147–159.

Other Mentioned Papers/Studies:

Ward-Smith, H., Arbuckle, K., Naude, A., & Wüster, W. (2020). Fangs for the memories? A survey of pain in snakebite patients does not support a strong role for defense in the evolution of snake venom composition. Toxins, 12(3), 201.

Music:

Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson

Species Bi-week theme – Mike Mooney

Other Music – The Passion HiFi, www.thepassionhifi.com