Sometimes this thing we know as “biodiversity” is just plain bizarre. My colleague, Michael Whitlock, alerted me to one such example this morning: the spider-tailed viper (Pseudocerastes urarachnoides) which has only been known to science since 2006. This snake, believe it or not, has a tail whose end is shaped, remarkably, like a spider! Yes, a spider. The resemblance is more striking when the snake moves; the snake is able to move the “spider-end” in an independent and jerky manner that is enticing to other animals that include spiders in their diet. The “mottled” colouration of the rest of the snake’s body helps to promote the trickery.
The viper-tailed viper is native to western Iran and was first discovered in 1968, but another specimen was not found until 2006.
There are other examples of such trickery in the animal world (e.g., the “rod and lure” of the anglerfishes, caudal “luring” of other snakes), but the spider-tailed viper with its combination of morphology, colouration, and behaviour is truly amazing. To see videos and read more of this incredible feature, see Ed Yong’s National Geographic blog post.
(Photo at the top) A spider-tailed viper with its tail that resembles the legs and abdomen of a spider.
Photo by: Omid