Erpeton

Erpeton
	Head of Erpeton tentaculatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Serpentes
Family:	Colubridae
Subfamily:	Homalopsinae
Genus:	Erpeton; Lacépède, 1800
Species
	Erpeton tentaculatum
Synonyms
	Rhinopirus Merrem, 1820; Herpeton Wagler, 1830; Homalopsis part. Schlegel, 1837

Erpeton is a genus of water snake of the family Colubridae, which includes a single known species, the tentacled snake, Erpeton tentaculatum, which is native to South-East Asia. They are aquatic and extremely fast in catching their prey, small fish.^[1] The snakes accomplish the capture of their prey by cheating on a C-start escape reflex of the fish: after a fish approaches, the snake bends, and makes a quick movement with a measured segment of its body, startling the fish exactly in the direction of snake's head.^[2]

Footnotes

^ LiveScience video - Snake Tricks Prey
^ Catania KC (April 2011). "The brain and behavior of the tentacled snake". Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1225 (1): 83–9. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.05959.x. PMID 21534995.

References

Catania, Kenneth C (2011). "Natural-Born Killer: Lethal from day one, the tentacled snake uses surprisingly sly tactics to capture fish." Scientific American. April 2011, pp. 65–67.

External links

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[1] LiveScience video - Snake Tricks Prey

[2] Catania KC (April 2011). "The brain and behavior of the tentacled snake". Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1225 (1): 83–9. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.05959.x. PMID 21534995.

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