Komodo Reptile Scales

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a b Zardoya, R.; Meyer, A. (1998). "Complete mitochondrial genome suggests diapsid affinities of turtles". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 95 (24): 14226–14231. Bibcode: 1998PNAS...9514226Z. doi: 10.1073/pnas.95.24.14226. PMC 24355. PMID 9826682. Regular shedding – Reptiles shed their skin continuously throughout their lifetimes. Shedding tends to be the most frequent during the adolescent phase, because the skin doesn’t actually grow in proportion with the body. The frequency of the shedding tends to decrease once the reptile reaches adulthood. At that point it’s mostly shed to maintain good health. a b Iwabe, N.; Hara, Y.; Kumazawa, Y.; Shibamoto, K.; Saito, Y.; Miyata, T.; Katoh, K. (2004-12-29). "Sister group relationship of turtles to the bird-crocodilian clade revealed by nuclear DNA-coded proteins". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 22 (4): 810–813. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msi075. PMID 15625185. Osborn, H.F. (1903). "The reptilian subclasses Diapsida and Synapsida and [the] early history of Diaptosauria". Memoirs of the American Museum of Natural History. 1: 451–507. Early in the period, the modern reptiles, or crown-group reptiles, evolved and split into two main lineages: the Archosauromorpha (forebears of turtles, crocodiles, and dinosaurs) and the Lepidosauromorpha (predecessors of modern lizards and tuataras). Both groups remained lizard-like and relatively small and inconspicuous during the Permian.

By the early 21st century, vertebrate paleontologists were beginning to adopt phylogenetic taxonomy, in which all groups are defined in such a way as to be monophyletic; that is, groups which include all descendants of a particular ancestor. The reptiles as historically defined are paraphyletic, since they exclude both birds and mammals. These respectively evolved from dinosaurs and from early therapsids, both of which were traditionally called "reptiles". [19] Birds are more closely related to crocodilians than the latter are to the rest of extant reptiles. Colin Tudge wrote: The reptile groups also show a diversity of morphologies. Some groups, such as most lizards and all crocodiles, possess strongly developed limbs, whereas other groups, such as the worm lizards and snakes, are limbless. Reptilian body flexibility ranges from the highly flexible forms found in snakes to the inflexible armoured bodies of turtles. In addition, the tails of most turtles tend to be short, especially when compared with the long heavy tails of crocodiles. Hildebran, M. & Goslow, G. (2001): Analysis of Vertebrate Structure. 5th edition. John Wiley & sons inc, New York. 635 pp. ISBN 978-0-471-29505-1

Snake scales occur as a motif regularly in computer action games. [37] [38] [39] [40] A snake scale was portrayed as a clue in the 1982 film Blade Runner. [41] Snake scales also figure in popular fiction, such as the Harry Potter series (desiccated Boomslang skin is used as a raw material for concocting the Polyjuice potion), and also in teen fiction. [42] See also [ edit ]

a b c d Gauthier, J.A. (1994). "The diversification of the amniotes". In Prothero, D.R.; Schoch, R.M. (eds.). Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution. Vol.7. Knoxville, TN: The Paleontological Society. pp.129–159. doi: 10.1017/S247526300000129X. {{ cite book}}: |journal= ignored ( help) There is no simple way of differentiating a venomous snake from a non-venomous one merely by using a scale character. Finding out whether a snake is venomous or not is correctly done by identification of the species of a snake with the help of experts, [31] :190 or in their absence, close examination of the snake and using authoritative references on the snakes of the particular geographical region to identify it. Scale patterns help to indicate the species and from the references, it can be verified if the snake species is known to be venomous or not.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Hearing in humans relies on 3parts of the ear; the outer ear that directs sound waves into the ear canal, the middle ear that transmits incoming sound waves to the inner ear, and the inner ear that helps in hearing and keeping your balance. Unlike humans and other mammals, snakes do not possess an outer ear, a middle ear, and a tympanum but have an inner ear structure with cochleas directly connected to their jawbone. [93] They are able to feel the vibrations generated from the sound waves in their jaw as they move on the ground. This is done by the use of mechanoreceptors, sensory nerves that run along the body of snakes directing the vibrations along the spinal nerves to the brain. Snakes have a sensitive auditory perception and can tell which direction sound being made is coming from so that they can sense the presence of prey or predator but it is still unclear how sensitive snakes are to sound waves traveling through the air. [94] Skin [ edit ] Skin of a sand lizard, showing squamate reptiles iconic scales Crocodiles are protected in many parts of the world, and are farmed commercially. Their hides are tanned and used to make leather goods such as shoes and handbags; crocodile meat is also considered a delicacy. [166] The most commonly farmed species are the saltwater and Nile crocodiles. Farming has resulted in an increase in the saltwater crocodile population in Australia, as eggs are usually harvested from the wild, so landowners have an incentive to conserve their habitat. Crocodile leather is made into wallets, briefcases, purses, handbags, belts, hats, and shoes. Crocodile oil has been used for various purposes. [167] Turtles have been traditionally believed to be surviving parareptiles, on the basis of their anapsid skull structure, which was assumed to be primitive trait. [49] The rationale for this classification has been disputed, with some arguing that turtles are diapsids that evolved anapsid skulls, improving their armor. [33] Later morphological phylogenetic studies with this in mind placed turtles firmly within Diapsida. [50] All molecular studies have strongly upheld the placement of turtles within diapsids, most commonly as a sister group to extant archosaurs. [24] [25] [26] [27] Permian reptiles [ edit ]