Types of snake venom fangs: Fixed front fangs, rear fangs, and fixed front fangs. Red highlights are given to fangs. Credit: A. Palci. Creative CommonsHave you ever wondered how dangerous snakes got their fangs? Research by Flinders University in collaboration with the South Australian Museum suggests that this is due to microscopic characteristics of their teeth."It has been a mystery for a long time why fangs evolved so often in snakes but not in other reptiles. This is what our study reveals, Dr. Alessandro Palci from Flinders University, says.There are nearly 4,000 snake species in existence today. 600 are "medically important" to humans. This means that you will most likely need to visit the nearest hospital if you get bit.Gaboon viper's fang (attached at the bone, the maxilla). Credit: A.Palci at Flinders UniversityVenom fangs can be described as modified teeth with grooves and greater size than the rest of the teeth. They can be found at the back of the mouth or at the front. They can be folded backwards.Researchers from Australia and abroad used high-tech modeling and fossils to discover that snakes have tiny wrinkles or infoldings at the base of their teeth. These infoldings may help teeth to attach more securely to the jaw. One of these wrinkles in venomous snakes is deeper and extends to the tip of the tooth, creating a venom groove or fang.Flinders University researcher Dr Alessandro Palci poses with a non-venomous serpent at the SA Museum Discovery Centre. Credit: Flinders UniversitySkull of an aipan with sections through its left fang, showing the relationship between the venom grooves and the infoldings at tooth's base. Credit: A. Palci (Creative Commons)."Our work also highlights both the efficiency and opportunism of evolution. Professor Michael Lee, Flinders University and South Australian Museum co-author, said that wrinkles which were used to attach teeth to the jaw were used to inject venom.Proceedings of the Royal Society B published the paper "Plicidentine" and the repeated origins of snake-venom fangs.Learn more about how snake fangs were adapted to their foodMore information: Plicidentine and the repeated origins of snake venom fangs, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or .1098/rspb.2021.1391 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Plicidentine and the repeated origins of snake venom fangs,
