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Vol. 52, 2013
Locomotor performance of three sympatric species of sea
kraits (Laticauda spp.) from
Orchid Island, Taiwan
Shiuang
Wang1, Harvey B Lillywhite2 and Ming-Chung Tu1*
1Department
of Life Science, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 116, Taiwan
2Department of Biology, University of Florida,
Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Abstract
Background: Assuming that
locomotion has a strong influence on animals’ fitness, we hypothesized
that better locomotor performance would be associated with the most
frequently utilized habitat. Laticauda
colubrina, Laticauda laticaudata, and Laticauda semifasciata have different
amphibious habits and microhabitat preferences at Orchid Island,
Taiwan. We investigated the morphology and locomotor performance of the
three sympatric species of sea krait. The measurements of body size,
tail area, and body shape were compared in our study. Data on crawling
and swimming speeds were gathered to investigate locomotor performance
in terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Results: We found significant differences in the
locomotor performances among the three species. L. colubrina was the most
terrestrial species in habits and sprinted significantly faster than
the others during terrestrial locomotion. On the other hand, L. semifasciata was the most
aquatic species, and it swam significantly faster than the other two
species. These results are consistent with our hypothesis that sea
kraits move well in their respective primary environments. With respect
to the highly aquatic L. semifasciata,
its laterally compressed body form, large body size, and large area of
compressed tail are considered to be beneficial to swimming in an
aquatic environment.
Conclusions: More data are required
to understand the superior terrestrial locomotion of L. colubrina, but this species may
benefit from its more-cylindrical body form compared to L. semifasciata and from its
greater muscle mass compared to L.
laticaudata. L. laticaudata
was intermediate in habits but exhibited the poorest performance in
both swimming and terrestrial locomotion. The reasons for this remain
unclear.
Key words: Sea krait; Laticauda; Locomotor performance;
Morphology; Body shape.
*Correspondence: E-mail: biofv026@ntnu.edu.tw
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