Infrared sensing in snakes
sensory organ in snakes for heat sensing
The ability to sense infrared thermal radiation evolved independently in three different groups of snakes, consisting of the families of Boidae (boas), Pythonidae (pythons), and the subfamily Crotalinae (pit vipers). What is commonly called a pit organ allows these animals to essentially "see" radiant heat at wavelengths between 5 and 30 μm. The more advanced infrared sense of pit vipers allows these animals to strike prey accurately even in the absence of light, and detect warm objects from several meters away. It was previously thought that the organs evolved primarily as prey detectors, but recent evidence suggests that it may also be used in thermoregulation and predator detection, making it a more general-purpose sensory organ than was supposed.
Phylogeny and evolution
The facial pit underwent parallel evolution in pit vipers and some boas and pythons. It evolved once in pit vipers and multiple times in boas and pythons. The electrophysiology of the structure is similar between the two lineages, but they differ in gross structural anatomy. Most superficially, pit vipers possess one large pit organ on either side of the head, between the eye and the nostril (loreal pits), while boas and pythons have three or more smaller pits lining the upper and sometimes the lower lip, in or between the scales (labial pits). Those of the pit vipers are the more advanced, having a suspended sensory membrane as opposed to a simple pit structure.
Anatomy
In pit vipers, the heat pit consists of a deep pocket in the rostrum with a membrane stretched across it.
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