Figures
A Pointy-headed Toad, Rhinella acutirostris, is attacked by a Banded Cat-eyed Snake, Leptodeira annulata, in Icononzo, Tolima, Colombia, at 1300 m elevation in the Magdalena River Valley on the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes.
This image was captured almost by accident when Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez was photographing the snake and toad separately. The snake attacked the toad on the white background used by Diego. After the photo was taken, the snake swallowed the toad within minutes. Diego kept the snake under observation for another 24 hours and noted no ill effects or change in behavior, demonstrating its resistance to bufadienolides, a type of cardiotonic steroid (CTS) produced by toads, thanks to the amino acid substitutions revealed by Mohammadi et al. in this issue.
See Mohammadi et al.
Download August's cover page.
Image Credit: Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez.
Citation: (2022) PLoS Genetics Issue Image | Vol. 18(8) September 2022. PLoS Genet 18(8): ev18.i08. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pgen.v18.i08
Published: September 23, 2022
Copyright: © 2022 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
This image was captured almost by accident when Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez was photographing the snake and toad separately. The snake attacked the toad on the white background used by Diego. After the photo was taken, the snake swallowed the toad within minutes. Diego kept the snake under observation for another 24 hours and noted no ill effects or change in behavior, demonstrating its resistance to bufadienolides, a type of cardiotonic steroid (CTS) produced by toads, thanks to the amino acid substitutions revealed by Mohammadi et al. in this issue.
See Mohammadi et al.
Download August's cover page.
Image Credit: Diego A. Gómez-Sánchez.