Beyond Venom and Constriction: Bite Performance and Trophic Ecology in the Genus Drymarchon

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  Beyond Venom and Constriction: Bite Performance and Trophic Ecology in the Genus Drymarchon Abstract Snakes exhibit extreme cranial kinesis that facilitates ingestion of prey with large cross-sectional area, but this ability is widely predicted to reduce bite performance due to decreased structural rigidity. Consequently, most large-bodied snakes rely on envenomation or constriction to subdue prey prior to ingestion. Species within the genus Drymarchon represent a notable exception: these large, non-venomous, non-constricting snakes routinely consume a wide range of prey, including large and potentially dangerous vertebrates, using only simple seizing and pinioning behaviors. Here, we quantify bite performance in three species of Drymarchon ( D. corais, D. couperi, and D. melanurus ), examine morphological predictors of biting performance, compare biting pressure to constriction pressure in similarly sized snakes, and synthesize dietary records across the genus. Our results sh...

First record of Hippasa Simon 1885 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Borneo, with the description of a new species

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First record of Hippasa Simon 1885 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Borneo, with the description of a new species

Simon (1885) established the wolf spider genus Hippasa Simon, 1885 to accommodate the type species Hippasa agelenoides (Simon, 1884) as well as H. greenalliae (Blackwall, 1867) from India, the latter species currently regarded as a nomen dubium (Sankaran & Caleb 2023). To date, 27 valid species have been described in this genus, distributed across Africa and Asia (World Spider Catalog 2026). While the taxonomy of Hippasa is relatively well-studied among Asian lycosids, with recent regional revisions from China and India (Wang et al. 2015; Sankaran & Caleb 2023; Wang et al. 2026), its diversity in Southeast Asia remains incompletely documented and geographically scattered, particularly within the Sunda Shelf region. In Southeast Asia, confirmed records of Hippasa occur in Laos, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam (Thorell 1895; Barrion 1981; Wang et al. 2015; Omelko & Marusik 2020; Wang et al. 2026). An unconfirmed record of H. holmerae from East Java, Indonesia (Trisnawati et al. 2023) requires verification; consequently, the genus currently lacks confirmed records from Indonesia. The present paper represents the first confirmed record of Hippasa from both Indonesia and Borneo and includes the description of H. kalamanthana sp. nov.

Dhiya'ulhaq, NU & Rahmadi, C. (2026) First record of Hippasa Simon 1885 (Araneae: Lycosidae) from Borneo, with the description of a new species. Zootaxa , 5869 (2), 386–392. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5869.2.16