Section 18.2-- Snakes: The Most Widespread Reptiles

Question 1

legless vertebrates with long, cylindrical bodies covered with dry scales

are more widely distributed than lizards

Answer 1

snakes

Question 2

one of the smallest snakes

Answer 2

blind snake

Question 3

largest known snakes

Answer 3

Asian python
S. American anaconda

Question 4

the longest snake of N. America

Answer 4

indigo snake

Question 5

a long chain of vertebrae designed to allow the snake to bend easily

Answer 5

vertebral column

Question 6

most snakes move by ________________
bends into a series of curves as it keeps its body flat on the ground

Answer 6

lateral undulation

Question 7

many thick bodied snakes such as African puff adders and Asian pythons, use _____________________ when stalking prey

when the snake alternately stretches and shortens segments of its body to creep forward in a straight line

Answer 7

rectilinear movement

Question 8

method of movement used by snakes to move across smooth surfaces or to climb through trees

Answer 8

concertina movement (scrunches up)

Question 9

desert-dwelling snakes use _______________ to cross the sand

lifts several parts of body and the head to move sideways

Answer 9

sidewinding movement

Question 10

the fastest known snakes is the

Answer 10

black mamba

Question 11

the four methods of snake locomotion are

Answer 11

lateral undulation
rectilinear movement
concertina movement
sidewinding movement

Question 12

the snake’s lower jaws are mot attached directly to the skull but are attached to a separate _______________ which loosely attaches to skull to the lower jaw on each side

Answer 12

quadrate bone

Question 13

a snake’s primary instrument of smelling

Answer 13

forked tongue

Question 14

the snake flicks out its tongue to pick up scents in the air,when the snake retracts its tongue, these scent particles are carried to the _________________

two cavities in the roof of its mouth containing nerve endings that are extremely sensitive to odor

Answer 14

Jacobson’s organ

Question 15

enables many snakes to eat prey larger than their mouth

Answer 15

double-hinged jaws

Question 16

T/F: Snakes eat their prey whole

Answer 16

TUE

Question 17

zoologists who study reptiles and amphibians

Answer 17

herpetologists

Question 18

a familiar family of nonvenomous snakes that overcome their prey by constriction

Answer 18

boid family (constrictors)

Question 19

the three largest snakes

Answer 19

pythons
anacondas
boas

Question 20

most constrictors are _______________ in size

Answer 20

moderate or small

Question 21

over two thirds of all snakes are __________
the largest group of living snakes

Answer 21

colubrids

Question 22

group of snakes that may be thick, slender, arboreal, aquatic, terrestrial, small, moderate-sized, venomous etc

Answer 22

colubrids

Question 23

familiar colubrids in N America

Answer 23

garter snake
water snakes
hognose snake
ringneck snakes

Question 24

scientists group venomous snakes according to their ___________

hollow or grooved venom-injecting teeth

Answer 24

fangs

Question 25

snakes with immovable fangs in the front of the upper jaw

are all venomous

Answer 25

elapids

Question 26

the most renowned elapids

Answer 26

cobras

Question 27

the longest venomous snake

Answer 27

king cobra

Question 29

has the largest, most spectacular hood

Answer 29

Indian cobra

Question 30

known as aggressive elapids in Africa; have highly potent venom

Answer 30

mambas

Question 31

aquatic elapids that are all venomous

Answer 31

sea snakes

Question 32

contains the vipers of the Old World and the pit vipers, which can be found in all continents except Australia in the tropical and temperate regions

Answer 32

viperid family

Question 33

has a sensory depression or pit on each side of its head between the eye and the nostril

its sensory organ contains nerves that are highly sensitive to heat

Answer 33

pit vipers

Question 34

US viper that is aggressive and may attack without provocation

Answer 34

cottonmouth

Question 35

the two basic type of poisons in snake venom

Answer 35

neurotoxin
hemotoxin

Question 36

poison in snake venom that affects the nervous system, which controls the functions of the heart, lungs, and muscles

Answer 36

neurotoxin

Question 37

poison in snake venom that damages blood vessels and destroys red blood cells

Answer 37

hemotoxin

Question 38

antibodies that attack the toxin molecules and neutralize their affects

Answer 38

antitoxins