title: Heart place and tail length evaluation in Naja oxiana, Macrovipera lebetina, and Montivipera latifii.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate a) heart place and tail length, b) their correlations with other biometrics, c) sexual differences in those features, in regard to cardiovascular system in a number of snakes from Iran, about which there is little information.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the fresh mortalities of snakes including 14 Naja oxiana (N. oxiana), 23 Macrovipera lebetina, and one male Montivipera latifii acquired from the Serpentatium of Pasteur Institute of Iran. In this respect, each specimen first was weighted, and then its ventral side of the integument was incised, and heart place was measured. Subsequently, other biometrical features such as total length, TAL, and snout-vent length were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that heart place in N. oxiana, Macrovipera lebetina and Montivipera latifii was about 18%, 32% and 30%, and also TAL constituted about 16%, 11% and 7% of total body length, respectively. Moreover, females indicated anterior heart place and shorter tail than males. Furthermore, the measures and correlations indicated few differences between N. oxiana and typical terrestrial species.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results denoted that in order to overcome hemocirculatory perturbations in vertical orientation while hooding and head raising behavior, N. oxiana need to have more important features than short heart to head distance and long tail. In addition, it gave the sexual differences in heart place and tail length between males and females. It is suggested that in ophidian cardiovascular studies the animals be grouped based upon their sex.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Center, Department of Medical Biotechnology, Venom and Toxin Unit, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address: alireza.nas65@gamil.com.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nasoori
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Rajaee Shahr, Moazen Blvd., Karaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Taghipour
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Center, Department of Medical Biotechnology, Venom and Toxin Unit, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Delavar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shahbazzadeh
authors.affiliation: Pasteur Institute of Iran, Production and Research Complex, Biotechnology Processes Developing Center, 25th km. Tehran-Karaj Hwy. Karaj, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolhossein
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aminirissehei
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Linguistics, the University of Adelaide, Australia; Department of English, Faculty of Sciences & Research, the I. Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Sharif
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moghaddam
keywords: Cardiovascular system; Heart place; Sexual differences; Snake; Tail length