Maliuk, Anastasiia;
Marghoub, Arsalan;
Williams, Catherine JA;
Stanley, Edward;
Kéver, Loïc;
Vickaryous, Matthew;
Herrel, Anthony;
... Moazen, Mehran; + view all
(2024)
Comparative analysis of osteoderms across the lizard body.
Anatomical Record
10.1002/ar.25418.
(In press).
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Abstract
Osteoderms (ODs) are mineralized tissue embedded within the skin and are particularly common in reptiles. They are generally thought to form a protective layer between the soft tissues of the animal and potential external threats, although other functions have been proposed. The aim of this study was to characterize OD variation across the lizard body. Adults of three lizard species were chosen for this study. After whole body CT scanning of each lizard, single ODs were extracted from 10 different anatomical regions, CT scanned, and characterized using sectioning and nanoindentation. Morphological analysis and material characterization revealed considerable diversity in OD structure across the species investigated. The scincid Tiliqua gigas was the only studied species in which ODs had a similar external morphology across the head and body. Greater osteoderm diversity was found in the gerrhosaurid Broadleysaurus major and the scincid Tribolonotus novaeguineae. Dense capping tissue, like that reported for Heloderma, was found in only one of the three species examined, B. major. Osteoderm structure can be surprisingly complex and variable, both among related taxa, and across the body of individual animals. This raises many questions about OD function but also about the genetic and developmental factors controlling OD shape.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Comparative analysis of osteoderms across the lizard body |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/ar.25418 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ar.25418 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 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-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
| Keywords: | Squamata, biomaterials, biomechanics, material characterization, morphology, reptiles |
| 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/10188139 |
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