DRAGON-SHOCKING - An Unknown Sea Creature Eats Dog in Seconds

SHOCKING - An Unknown Sea Creature Eats Dog in Seconds

 

Given the dorsal side only, it's difficult to tell what the taxonomic relationships of Dragonsnakes are. However, you can tell this snake is a colubroid if you examine the ventral side, where wide, well-developed ventral scales are present, unlike the smaller ventral scales of more primitive snakes. The tail, which constitutes up to a third of the total length, has a single row of scales on the underside, a characteristic reminiscent of vipers but also found in some colubroids. Overall, the head is probably the weirdest attribute. The top, sides, and bottom of the head are covered by small granular scales, similar to those of pythons and other henophidians. But a few specialized scales grace the nose and lips of Dragonsnakes. These include about 20 labial scales, a small rostral scale at the tip of the nose (impossible to see from above), two large nasal scales, directed forward, enclosing the nostrils, and several small shields in the vicinity of these nasal scales, separated by bare skin. What are all these weird scales for? Why didn't Dragonsnakes evolve more specialized scales, like the other descendants of their common ancestor with colubrids? These are open questions, but the Dragonsnake's environment probably has something to do with it. Another rare Bornean reptile, the Earless Monitor Lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis), has a similar mixture of high- and low-entropy scalation.