Unveiling the elusive: X-rays bring scolecophidian snakes out of the dark

Abstract

Scolecophidian snakes have long posed challenges for scholars interested in elucidating their anatomy. The importance, and relative paucity, of high-quality anatomical data pertaining to scolecophidians was brought into sharp focus in the late 20th century as part of a controversy over the phylogeny and ecological origin of snakes. The basal position of scolecophidians in the phylogeny of snakes makes their anatomy, behavior, ecology, and evolution especially important for such considerations. The depauperate fossil record for the group meant that advances in understanding their evolutionary history were necessarily tied to biogeographic distributions and anatomical interpretations of extant taxa. Osteological data, especially data pertaining to the skull and mandible, assumed a dominant role in shaping historical and modern perspectives of the evolution of scolecophidians. Traditional approaches to the exploration of the anatomy of these snakes relied heavily upon serial-sectioned specimens and cleared-and-stained specimens. The application of X-ray computed tomography (CT) to the study of scolecophidians revolutionized our understanding of the osteology of the group, and now, via diffusible iodine-based contrast-enhanced computed tomography (diceCT), is yielding data sets on internal soft anatomical features as well. CT data sets replicate many aspects of traditional anatomical preparations, are readily shared with a global community of scholars, and now are available for unique holotype and other rare specimens. The increasing prevalence and relevance of CT data sets is a strong incentive for the establishment and maintenance of permanent repositories for digital data. Show more