Duvernoy's gland

Duvernoy's gland (light yellow) on a garter snake from a lateral view. It is lateral to the mouth and caudal to the snake's eye. Partially covered in scales (greenish-brown) and surrounded by underlying muscle tissue (light brown)

The Duvernoy's gland is a gland found in some groups of colubrid snakes. It is distinguished from the venom gland and is not found in viperids or elapids. It was named for French zoologist Georges Louis Duvernoy who first described the gland in 1832.[1]

The Duvernoy's gland is positioned posterior to the eye, encased in a thin cover of connective tissue, and consists mostly of serous cells. A single, short duct extends anteromedially from the lumen of the gland to the base of the posterior fangs.

  1. ^ Duvernoy (1832). "Mémoire sur les caractères tirés de l'anatomie pour distinguer les serpents venimeux des serpents non venimeux" [Memory on characters taken from anatomy to distinguish venomous snakes from non-venomous snakes]. Annales des Sciences Naturelles (in French). 26: 113–160.