New paper published

 

Drs. Chuck Smith and Gordon Schuett are pleased to announce that their latest paper has just been published in the scientific journal Northeastern Naturalist. The paper is available in pdf form here. 

 

Here is the Abstract from the new paper:

 

Pair-bonding between sexes is common in vertebrate taxa, yet it has been noted far less

frequently in some groups such as reptiles, and snakes in particular. Evidence to date indicates that many snake mating-systems are polyandrous, with both males and females having multiple partners in a single breeding season, and thus unlikely to exhibit lengthy pair-bonds. Wittenberger and Tilson (1980) suggested that pair-bonding exists when pairs remain intact for a consecutive period equaling at least 25% of the breeding season. Using this criterion, we present evidence of pair-bond formation in a North American pitviper, Agkistrodon contortrix (Copperhead), a species with a polyandrous mating system.