Most readers, unlike you, are unfamiliar with the behavior of Atractaspis. In fact, Deufel and Cundall (2003) point out that "Existing published observations of the mechanics and behavior of the envenomating apparatus are based on manipulations of dead animals (Corkill et al., 1959; Visser, 1975) and film analysis of living Atractaspis stabbing a rubber membrane (Golani and Kochva, 1988)."



As you probably know, the fangs of viperids and elapids are remarkable examples of convergent evolution, so remarkable that some herpetologists thought that fangs evolved in the common ancestor of the viperids and elapids. Even their developmental pathways are similar, as Kate Jackson demonstrated. If not for the groove that is still visible on the anterior surface of elapid fangs, viperid fangs would be distinguishable from elapid fangs except by their relative lengths. Only when one also takes into account the fact that many elapids have similar striking behaviors as Atractaspis can one say with any degree of certainty that the long fangs of Atractaspis are only convergently similar to those of viperids. As many systematists know but many cladists ignore, all scraps of information can be potentially useful in ascertaining evolutionary relationships.

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