Durophagy (eating hard-shelled prey, such as beetles or mollusks) appears as a dietary specialization among lizards, but it is rare among snakes. Why? What specializations of the teeth would you expect to find in durophagous lizards and in snakes?
What will be an ideal response?
Durophagous lizards, such as the caiman lizard (Dracena guianensis), crush crabs and snails with broad molarlike teeth in the rear of the jaws. The highly kinetic skulls of snakes cannot apply crushing force to a hard object in the mouth, and durophagous snakes have hinged teeth that fold back when they are swallowing heavily scaled lizards, such as skinks. (F. C. Patchell and R. Shine. 1986 . Hinged teeth for hard-bodied prey: A case of convergent evolution between snakes and legless lizards. Journal of Zoology 208:269–275)
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Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
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Indicate whether the statement is true or false.