Sexual dimorphism and skull size and shape in the highly specialized snake species,<i>Aipysurus eydouxii</i>(Elapidae: Hydrophiinae)

Abstract

We suggest that the feeding specialisation in <i>A. eydouxii</i> does not allow for an increase in body thickness and the size of the head above a certain threshold. Our results may be interpreted as support for prey-size divergence as a factor driving skull dimorphism since such species in which the sexes do not differ in prey size also shows very subtle or no differences in skull morphology.