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Arrows pointing to the pit organs are red; a black arrow points to the nostril. The ability to sense infrared thermal radiation evolved independently in three different groups of snakes, consisting of the families of Boidae (boas), Pythonidae (pythons), and the subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers). What is commonly called a pit organ allows these ...
The pit organ is complex in structure and is similar to the thermoreceptive labial pits found in boas and pythons. It is deep and located in a maxillary cavity. The membrane is like an eardrum that divides the pit into two sections of unequal size, with the larger of the two facing forwards and exposed to the environment.
The generic name, Bothrops, comes from the Greek words bothros and ops, which mean 'pit' and 'face' (or 'eye'), respectively. This is a reference to these snakes' highly sensitive heat-detecting pit organs. The specific epithet, asper, which is a Latin word meaning 'rough' or 'harsh', may allude to the species' keeled dorsal scales. [8]
Like all pit vipers, rattlesnakes have two organs that can sense radiation; their eyes and a set of heat-sensing "pits" on their faces that enable them to locate prey and move towards it, based on the prey's thermal radiation signature. These pits have a relatively short effective range of about 1 ft (0.30 m) but give the rattlesnake a distinct ...
Bothrops is a genus of highly venomous pit vipers endemic to the Neotropics. [1] The generic name, Bothrops, is derived from the Greek words βόθρος, bothros, meaning ' pit ', and ὄψ, ops, meaning ' eye ' or ' face ', together an allusion to the heat-sensitive loreal pit organs.
Pit vipers, which include rattlesnakes and related species, possess all the sensory organs found in other snakes, as well as additional adaptations. These include specialized infrared-sensitive receptors , known as pits, located on either side of the head between the nostrils and eyes.
A camera mounted on a drone falls in a pit of snakes while filming
The loreal pit is visible between the eye and the nostril. Diagram of the loreal pit. The loreal pit is the deep depression, or fossa, in the loreal area on either side of the head in pit vipers (crotaline snakes). The area is located behind the nostril and in front of the eye, but below the line that runs between the centers of each.