Venom function in the Puerto Rican racer, Alsophis portoricensis (Serpentes: Colubridae)

Alsophis portoricensis is an opisthomegadont, colubrid snake that normally employs the secretion of its Duvernoy's gland to subdue its prey. We studied the effect of Duvernoy's gland secretion of A. portoricensis on prey digestion by comparing digestion of various structures of normally ingested lizards to that of nonenvenomated lizards force fed to snakes. Faster digestion rates were recorded for the skin, forelimbs, liver, and lungs of envenomated anoles when compared to nonenvenomated lizards. Also, overall digestion of envenomated anoles was faster than that of nonenvenomated lizards.

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