{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T10:42:14Z","timestamp":1790764934275,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,15]],"date-time":"2017-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1505433600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of Morphology"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2017,12]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Of the few elongate, fossorial vertebrates that have been examined for their burrowing mechanics, all were found to use an akinetic, reinforced skull to push into the soil, powered mostly by trunk muscles. Reinforced skulls were considered essential for head\u2010first burrowing. In contrast, I found that the skull of the fossorial shield\u2010nosed cobra (<jats:italic>Aspidelaps scutatus<\/jats:italic>) is not reinforced and retains the kinetic potential typical of many non\u2010fossorial snakes. <jats:italic>Aspidelaps scutatus<\/jats:italic> burrows using a greatly enlarged rostral scale that is attached to a kinetic snout that is independently mobile with respect to the rest of the skull. Two mechanisms of burrowing are used: (1) anteriorly directed head thrusts from a loosely bent body that is anchored against the walls of the tunnel by friction, and (2) side\u2010to\u2010side shovelling using the head and rostral scale. The premaxilla, to which the rostral scale is attached, lacks any direct muscle attachments. Rostral scale movements are powered by, first, retractions of the palato\u2010pterygoid bar, mediated by a ligament that connects the anterior end of the palatine to the transverse process of the premaxilla and, second, by contraction of a previously undescribed muscle slip of the m. retractor pterygoidei that inserts on the skin at the edge of the rostral scale. In derived snakes, palatomaxillary movements are highly conserved and power prey capture and transport behaviors. <jats:italic>Aspidelaps scutatus<\/jats:italic> has co\u2010opted those mechanisms for the unrelated function of burrowing without compromising the original feeding functions, showing the potential for evolution of functional innovations in highly conserved systems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/jmor.20743","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,15]],"date-time":"2017-09-15T11:56:56Z","timestamp":1505476616000},"page":"1706-1715","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Burrowing with a kinetic snout in a snake (Elapidae: <i>Aspidelaps scutatus<\/i>)"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"278","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5115-6089","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexandra","family":"Deufel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology Minot State University 500 University Avenue W, Minot North Dakota 58707"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_6_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nature04413"},{"key":"e_1_2_6_3_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"The status of the genus Leptodrymus Amaral, with comments on modifications of colubrid premaxillae","volume":"1352","author":"Bogert C. 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