QÆs for Wolfgang, Tony ,David etc..

Good one Alan, I remember seeing a Taipan site once with some close ups of the fangs and they looked highly mobile too. Dunno if it's an Australian thing. Or perhaps I was drunk. I'm sure other elapid gobs I've seen contain well-fixed fangs.

Cheers, Lee.

Alan,

Yes, death adders do have mobile fangs, but no amount of fang mobility makes them into a viper, even though it may make them more similar to a viper.

Remember that groups such as elapids, vipers, etc, are defined on the basis of evolutionary history, i.e., who they share the most recent common ancestor with, not on the basis of what features they possess. Death adders share their most recent common ancestor with other elapids, and the fact that they indepedently evolved a degree of fang mobility does not change that.

Birds and bats are the obvious analogy - despite having wings, bats are descended from other mammals and therefore are mammals, not birds - the wings were evolved independently.

Cheers,

Wolfgang

Also, I've just been looking through my books , but only have two pics of the death adder. Neither pic shows the eyes clearly , does this species have a vertical slit pupil or rounded ?

Thanks,
Alan

Great pic, and a great looking snake

Thanks Wolfgang,
Alan