Spider-Tailed Horned Viper's Decoy Tail Hides 'Bizarrely Normal' Bones, 3D Study Finds
A recent study published in The Anatomical Record investigates the vertebrae of the spider-tailed horned viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides), known for its distinctive tail that attracts birds, which is supported by a "bizarrely normal" skeleton. The research, conducted at the X-ray computed tomography lab of the Field Museum, involved creating 3D models from numerous X-ray images. Led by paleontologist Georgios Georgalis from the Polish Academy of Sciences and Sara Ruane, an associate curator at the Field Museum, the project originated from a proposal made in 2023. This viper species, native to Iran, was first collected in 1968, with another specimen discovered in 2003. The results indicate that isolated vertebrae in fossils may not adequately represent an animal's external morphology.
Key facts
- The study was published in The Anatomical Record and created 3D images of the spider-tailed horned viper's skeleton
- The spider-tailed horned viper's scientific name is Pseudocerastes urarachnoides and it is endemic to Iran
- The Field Museum collected the first specimen of the viper in 1968 and scientists initially thought it had a deformity like a tumor
- A second snake of the species with similar tail anatomy was discovered in 2003, and the species was formally described three years later
- Researchers used the Field Museum's X-ray computed tomography lab to take thousands of X-ray images and stack them into a 3D model
- Georgios Georgalis is a paleontologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences and Sara Ruane is associate curator of herpetology at the Field Museum
- Tiago Simões of Princeton University, who was not involved in the study, says snake vertebral structures are poorly studied and typically overlooked in herpetology
- The elongated scales at the tail tip form a bulbous lobe with spindly leg-like projections that the snake wiggles to mimic an arachnid and lure birds
Entities
Artists
- Georgios Georgalis
- Sara Ruane
- Tiago Simões
- Omid Mozaffari
- Carlyn Kranking
Institutions
- Polish Academy of Sciences
- Field Museum
- Princeton University
- The Anatomical Record
- Smithsonian magazine
Locations
- Iran
- Poland
- United States