Iwasaki's snail-eater
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SPECIES
Pareas iwasakii

Iwasaki's snail-eater, Pareas iwasakii, is a species of snake in the family Pareidae. The species is endemic to the Yaeyama Islands in the southern Ryukyu Islands, Japan.

Animal name origin

The specific name, iwasakii, is in honor of Japanese meteorologist Takuji Iwasaki.

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Habits and Lifestyle

Pareas iwasakii is a snail-eating specialist; even newly hatched individuals feed on snails. It has asymmetric jaws, which facilitates feeding on snails with dextral (clockwise coiled) shells. A consequence of this asymmetry is that Pareas iwasakii is much less adept at preying on sinistral (counterclockwise coiled) snails.

Lifestyle

References

1. Iwasaki's snail-eater Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwasaki's_snail-eater
2. Iwasaki's snail-eater on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/16220/96877422

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