Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Iwasaki's snail eater

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Suborder
  
Serpentes

Subfamily
  
Pareatinae

Scientific name
  
Pareas iwasakii

Higher classification
  
Pareas

Order
  
Scaled reptiles

Subphylum
  
Vertebrata

Family
  
Colubridae

Genus
  
Pareas

Phylum
  
Chordata

Rank
  
Species

Iwasaki's snail-eater httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Similar
  
Pareas, Dipsas, Dipsas indica, Pareatinae, Dipsas variegata

Iwasaki's snail-eater, Pareas iwasakii, is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is endemic to the Yaeyama Islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.

Contents

Etymology

The specific name, iwasakii, is in honor of Japanese meteorologist Takuji Iwasaki.

Ecology

Pareas iwasakii is a snail-eating specialist; even newly hatched individuals feed on snails. It has asymmetric jaws, which facilitates feeding on snails with dextral (clockwise coiled) shells. A consequence of this asymmetry is that Pareas iwasakii is much less adept at preying on sinistral (counterclockwise coiled) snails.

Taxonomy

Originally described as Amblycephalus formosensis iwasakii by Moichirō Maki, it is currently placed in the genus Pareas.

References

Iwasaki's snail-eater Wikipedia