Publications by authors named "Tobias S Kunz"
Article Synopsis
- This study investigates how snake venom changes as snakes grow, focusing on variations in venom composition among different-sized individuals.
- Researchers decoded venom gland transcripts from six snakes and analyzed venom proteins from 19, identifying 125 toxin transcripts, with only 10 linked to growth changes.
- The findings indicate that larger snakes primarily produce myotoxic phospholipases A, while smaller snakes have venom that is more hemorrhagic and pro-coagulant due to unique metalloproteinases, showing that transcriptional changes play a key role in venom variability.
The South American and cis-andean lizard genus Tropidurus has a complex taxonomic history. Most species were recently described and previous revisions included few specimens from the southern part of the continent. Tropidurus torquatus has the broadest geographic distribution in the genus and several morphological and ecological differences were described within its distribution.
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