Marghoub, Arsalan;
Kever, Loïc;
Williams, Catherine JA;
Abzhanov, Arkhat;
Vickaryous, Matthew;
Herrel, Anthony;
Evans, Susan E;
(2023)
The role of cranial osteoderms on the mechanics of the skull in scincid lizards.
Anatomical Record
10.1002/ar.25168.
(In press).
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Abstract
Osteoderms (ODs) are calcified organs formed directly within the skin of most major extant tetrapod lineages. Lizards possibly show the greatest diversity in ODs morphology and distribution. ODs are commonly hypothesized to function as a defensive armor. Here we tested the hypothesis that cranial osteoderms also contribute to the mechanics of the skull during biting. A series of in vivo experiments were carried out on three specimens of Tiliqua gigas. Animals were induced to bite a force plate while a single cranial OD was strain gauged. A finite element (FE) model of a related species, Tiliqua scincoides, was developed and used to estimate the level of strain across the same OD as instrumented in the in vivo experiments. FE results were compared to the in vivo data and the FE model was modified to test two hypothetical scenarios in which all ODs were (i) removed from, and (ii) fused to, the skull. In vivo data demonstrated that the ODs were carrying load during biting. The hypothetical FE models showed that when cranial ODs were fused to the skull, the overall strain across the skull arising from biting was reduced. Removing the ODs showed an opposite effect. In summary, our findings suggest that cranial ODs contribute to the mechanics of the skull, even when they are loosely attached.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The role of cranial osteoderms on the mechanics of the skull in scincid lizards |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/ar.25168 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ar.25168 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Authors. The Anatomical Record published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for Anatomy. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | biomechanics, craniofacial system, feeding, mechanical strain, Tiliqua |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Mechanical Engineering |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10162712 |
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