English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Snakes lay their eggs in clutches of different size, which are usually attached to each other forming a cluster. Egg-clustering is a widespread phenomenon across alethinophidian snakes, mostly recorded in   Pythonoidea   and caenophidian clades. Here we report a new type of egg-clustering for threadsnakes (  Leptotyphlopidae  ) that departs from the alethinophidian type. We found that females of    Epictia   australis    and    Leptotyphlops   sylvicolus    lay their eggs connected to each other through a filament, and we dubbed it ‘string-egg clustering’. The histomorphology of the filament linking the eggs in    E.   australis    showed an outer calcareous layer underlain by a thick layer of collagen fibers, demonstrating that it is an integral part of the eggshell formed during its deposition process in the oviduct. String egg-clustering seems to be present only among species belonging to both subfamilies of threadsnakes,   Epictinae   and   Leptotyphlopinae  . Egg-clustering in alethinophidians has been demonstrated to have several advantages for embryo development and post-hatching survival, including fixing the position of the embryo within the egg, protection against predators, and embryo-to-embryo communication. The presence of a filament connecting the eggs in leptotyphlopid species might be relevant for maintaining the position of the embryo in the egg, to avoid the dispersion of the egg in the nesting site, and potentially for the transmission of physical cues. Thus, we hypothesize that the string-egg clustering constitutes an advantageous reproductive trait among threadsnakes.

Novel type of egg-clustering in threadsnakes ( Serpentes : Leptotyphlopidae )