Snake , like other reptiles, has a skin that is covered in a scale . The snake is fully covered with scales or scales of various shapes and sizes, known as snake skin as a whole. A scale protects the body of a snake, helps in propulsion, allows moisture to be maintained inside, altering surface characteristics such as roughness to aid in camouflage, and in some cases even assisting in the capture of prey (such as Acrochordus). Simple or complicated staining patterns (which help in camouflage and anti-predator look) are the property of the underlying skin, but the folded scaly skin properties allow bright skin to hide among the scales then disclosed to surprise predators.
The scales have been modified from time to time to serve other functions such as the eyelashes, and the protective cover for the eye with the most typical modification is the rattle of North American rattlesnakes.
Snakes regularly knock out their scaly skin and get new ones. This allows replacement of old, outdated, parasitic disposal and is thought to allow snakes to grow. The arrangement of scales is used to identify snake species.
Snakes have become part of the culture and religion. A clear scale pattern has been considered to affect early art. The use of snake skins in the manufacture of wallets, clothing and other items led to the killing of large-scale snakes, thereby increasing the advocacy for the use of artificial snake skin. Snake scales can also be found as motifs in fiction, art and film.
Video Snake scale
The scales function
Snake scales mainly serve to reduce friction when moving, because friction is the main source of energy loss in snake-driven.
The ventral (or stomach) scale, which is large and long, is very low friction, and some arboreal species can use the edges to grip the branch. Snake skin and scales help keep moisture in the animal's body. The snake picks up vibrations from both air and soil, and can distinguish them, using a complex internal resonance system (possibly involving scales).
Maps Snake scale
Evolution
Reptiles evolved from amphibian ancestors who abandoned aquatic lifestyles and became terrestrial. To prevent loss of moisture the reptile skin loses the softness and moisture of the amphibian skin and develops a thick stratum corneum with several layers of lipid that serves as a watertight barrier and provides ultraviolet protection. Over time, reptile skin cells become very keratin, horny, sturdy and dry. The surface of the dermis and epidermis of all reptile scales forms a contiguous sheet, as can be seen when the snake sheds its skin as a whole.
Morphology of scales
Snake scales are formed by skin differentiation or epidermis underlying the snake. Each scale has an outer surface and an inner surface. The skin from the inside surface of the hinge returns and forms an overlapping free area with the base of the next scale that appears below this scale. A snake hatches with a fixed number of scales. The scales do not increase in number because the snake is ripe also does not decrease in number over time. However the scales grow larger in size and can change shape with every moult.
The snake has smaller scales around the mouth and sides of the body allowing the expansion so that the snake can consume a prey with a width that is much larger than itself. Snake scales are made of keratin, the same material as hair and nails. They are cool and dry to touch.
Surface and shape
Snake scales have different shapes and sizes. Snake scales may be granular, have smooth surfaces or have longitudinal bulges or hulls on them. Often, the scales of snakes have holes, tubercles and other fine structures that can be seen with the naked eye or under a microscope. Snake scales can be modified to form edges, as in the case of Eyelash Bush Viper, Atheris ceratophora, or rattles as in the case of rattlesnakes in North America.
Certain primitive snakes such as boas, pythons, and certain sophisticated snakes like poisonous snakes have small scales arranged irregularly on the head. Other more advanced snakes have special large symmetrical scales on the head called the shield or plates .
Snake scales occur in various forms. They may be cycloid as in the Typhlopidae family, long and pointed with pointy tips, as in the case of Green Grape Vines Ahaetulla nasuta, broad and leaf-like, as in the case of green venomous snakes Trimeresurus spp or as wide as its length, for example, as in Snake Rats Ptyas mucosus . In some cases, the scales may weaken weakly or strongly as in the case of the striped keelback Buff Amphiesma stolatum . They may have bidentate tips like on some spp Natrix . Some snakes, such as the Seasnake Short Lapemis curtus , may have scaly-shaped scales and are juxtaposed while others may have large and non-overlapping knobs as in the case of Javan Mudsnake Xenodermis javanicus .
Another example of snake-scale differentiation is the transparent scale called brille or spectacle that covers snake eyes. Brille is often referred to as a fused petals. It was shed as part of the old skin during moulting.
Shake
The most typical modification of the snake scale is rattle of rattlesnakes, such as the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus . This rattle consists of a series of interlocked and loose spaces that when shaken, vibrate each other to create warning signals from rattlesnakes. Only the bottom is firmly attached to the tip of the tail.
At birth, a hatchling rattlesnake has only a small button or a 'primordial toy' that is firmly attached to the tip of the tail. The first segment is added when the hatchling releases its skin for the first time. A new section is added each time the skin is shed until the toy is formed. Rattle grows as the age of snakes but the segment is also prone to breaking up and therefore toy length is not a reliable indicator of snake age.
Color
The scales, more specifically, consist mostly of hard keratin betas that are essentially transparent. Color scales are caused by pigments in the inner layers of the skin and not because of the scale material itself. Colored scales for all colors in this way except blue and green. Blue is caused by ultrastructure scales. By itself, such scaled surfaces break the light and give it a blue color, while, in combination with the yellow from the inner skin provides a beautiful green color.
Some snakes have the ability to change the color of the scales slowly. This is usually seen in cases where snakes become lighter or darker with seasonal changes. In some cases, these changes can occur between day and night.
Ecdysis
Shedding scale is called ecdysis , or, in normal use moulting or decay . In the case of a snake, the outermost layer of the outermost shell is shed in one layer. The snake scales are not separate but the extensions of the epidermis therefore they are not spilled separately, but are removed as a complete adjacent skin layer in each moult, similar to the socks that are rotated out.
Moulting serves a number of functions - first, old and worn out skin replaced, secondly, helping to get rid of parasites such as mites and lice. Skin renewal by moulting is intended to allow growth in some animals such as insects, but this view has been debated in the case of snakes.
Moulting is repeated periodically throughout the life of the snake. Before moult, snakes stop eating and often hide or move to a safe place. Just before shedding, the skin becomes dull and looks dry and the eyes become turbid or blue. The inner surface of the old outer skin melts. This causes the old outer skin apart from the new inner skin. After a few days, clear eyes and snakes "creep" out of their old skin. Old skin broke out near the mouth and the snake was stretched with the help of rubbing the rough surface. In many cases, the cast skin peels back overhead from head to tail, in one piece like an old sock. New, bigger, and brighter skin layers are formed beneath it.
Older snakes may shed their skin once or twice a year, but younger and still growing snakes can melt up to four times a year. The discarded skin provides a trace of a perfect scale pattern and it is usually possible to identify the snake if it is complete and intact.
Scaling settings
The scale setting is important, not only for taxonomic utility, but also for forensic reasons and conservation of snake species. Except the head, the snake has a narrowed scales, overlapping like a tile on the roof. The snake has a row of scales along the whole or part of its length and also many other special scales, either singly or in pairs, occurring in the head and other body parts.
The dorsal (or body) scales on the snake body are arranged in rows along their bodies. The adjacent rows are diagonally offset by one another. Most snakes have an odd number throughout the body although certain species have even number of lines, for example. Zaocys spp. In the case of some water and sea snakes, the scales are granular and the rows can not be calculated.
Number of rows ranges from ten in Tiger Ratsnake Spilotes pullatus ; thirteen at Dryocalamus , Liopeltis , Calamaria and the Asian genus Snake Calliophis ; 65 to 75 in the python; 74 to 93 at Kolpophis and 130 to 150 at Acrochordus . The majority of the largest snake family, Colubridae has 15, 17 or 19 rows of scales. Maximum number of rows are in the middle of the body and they reduce the number toward the head and tail.
Nomenclature scale
Scales on the head and body of the snake are indicated in the following paragraphs with various photographs of the striped Keelback Amfiesma stolata Head scales
Identification of the easiest cephalic scale begins with reference to the nostrils, which are easily identifiable on the snake. There are two scales that cover the nostrils called nasal . In colubrid, the nostrils are located between the nose, while in the poisonous snake it lies at the center of a single nose scale. The outer nose (near the muzzle) is called prenasal while the inner nose (near the eye) is called postnasal . Along the top of the muzzle connecting the nose on both sides of the head is a scale called internally . Between two links is the scale at the tip of the muzzle called the scale rostral .
The scales around the eyes are called the circumorbital scale and are named as the ocular scale but with the appropriate prefix. A proper ocular scale is the transparent scale that covers the eye called spectacle , brille or eyecap . The circumorbital scales toward the muzzle or front are called the preocular scale, which is backwards called the postocular scale, and which is toward the upper or back side is called supraocular scale . The circumcultural scale toward the ventral or the lower side, if any, is called the subocular scale. Between the preocular and postnasal scales are one or two scales called the loreal scale . The loreal scale does not exist in elapids.
The scales along the lip of the snake are called labial . Those on the upper lip are called supralabial or labial over , while those on the lower lip are called infralabial or lower labial b>. Above the head, between the eyes, adjacent to the supraoculars is the scale frontal . The prefrontal scale is the scales connected to the front toward the tip of the muzzle in contact with the interna- tional. They may have scales between them. The back of the top of the head has a scale connected to a frontal scale called parietal scale. On the back side of the head between the parietal above and the supralabial below is a scale called the temporary scale .
At the bottom of the head, the snake has an anterior scale called the mental scale . Connected to the mental scale and along the lower lip is infralabial or lower labial . As long as the chin is connected to the infralabial is a pair of shields called anterior chin shield . In addition to the anterior chin guard, further behind the chin are another pair of shields called posterior chin guards . In some texts, chinshields are referred to as submaxillary scales.
The scales in the central region or throat , which are in contact with the first ventral scales of the body of the snake and flanked by a chin shield, are called gum scales . The mental groove is a longitudinal groove at the bottom of the head between a large paired chin shield and continues between smaller sugar scales.
Body Scale
The scales on the snake body are called the dorsal or costal scale. Sometimes there is a special row of large scales along the top of the snake's back, that is, the top row, called the vertebral scale. The enlarged scale of the snake's abdomen is called the scale of ventral or gastrosteges . The number of ventral scales can be a guide for the species. In "advanced" (Caenophidian) snakes, large abdominal scales and rows of back scales fit the spine, allowing scientists to count vertebra without dissection. Scale of tail
At the tip of the ventral scales the snakes are the anal plates that protect the opening to the cloaca (the joint opening for waste and reproduction material to pass) at the bottom near the tail. This anal scale may be single or split into pairs. The body part outside the anal scale is considered a tail.
Sometimes the snake has an enlarged scales, either single or paired, under the tail; this is called subcaudal or urosteges . This subcanaal may be subtle or paid off as in Bitis arietans somalica . The tip of the tail may only be pointed to the tip (as in most snake cases), it may form the spine (as in Acanthophis), ending with bone spurs (as in Lachesis ), toys (as in Crotalus ), or steering as seen in many sea serpents.
Resources . The details for this section have been sourced from the scale chart at Malcolm Smith. Details of the striped Keelback scale Buff have been taken from Daniels.
List of scales
- Scale on the head .
- Raglan.
- Nasorostral.
- Nasal.
- Prenasal.
- Postnasal.
- Supranasal.
- Fronto-nasal.
- Internationally.
- Brille, spectacle, ocular scale, eyecap.
- Sirkumorbital.
- Preocular.
- Postoculum.
- Supraocular.
- Subocular.
- Loreal.
- Interorbital, Intersupraocular.
- Frontal.
- Prefrontal.
- Parietal.
- Occipital.
- Interoccipital.
- Temporal.
- Labial.
- Supralabial, Upper labial.
- Sublabial, Infralabial, Labial down.
- Mental or Symphysial.
- Chin guard.
- An anterior chin guard, An anterior genus.
- Posterior chin guard, Posterior genus.
- Intergeneial.
- Gular.
- Scale in body .
- Dorsal.
- Vertebral.
- Ventral, Gastrostege.
- Scales on the tail .
- Anal.
- Subcaudal, Urostege.
Related related terms
- Canthus, or Canthus rostralis , the angle between the supraocular scale and the rostral scale.
- Mental indentations.
Important taxonomy
Scale does not play an important role in distinguishing between families but is important at the generic and specific levels. There is a complex scales nomenclature scheme. Scale patterns, by means of scale or texture surfaces, patterns and colors and the distribution of anal plates, in combination with other morphological characteristics, are the primary means of classifying snakes to the species level.
In certain areas of North America, where the diversity of snakes is not very large, easy keys based on simple scale identification have been designed for ordinary people to distinguish poisonous snakes from non-venomous snakes. Elsewhere with large biodiversity, such as Myanmar, the publication warns that poisonous and non-venomous snakes can not be easily distinguished without careful scrutiny.
Scale patterns can also be used for individual identification in field studies. Certain scale clippings, such as subcaudal, to characterize individual snakes are a popular approach to population estimation with mark and recapture techniques.
Distinguishing between venomous and non-venomous snakes
There is no simple way to distinguish poisonous snakes from non-venomous ones using only a scale character. Find out if the snake is poisonous or not done correctly with the identification of snake species with expert help, or in their absence, close snake examination and using authoritative references on snakes from a specific geographical area to identify me. Scale patterns help indicate the species and from the reference, can be verified if the snake species is known to be poisonous or not.
Identification of species using a scale requires a fair level of knowledge about snakes, their taxonomies, snail nomenclature as well as familiarity with and access to scientific literature. Distinguish by using a scale diagram of whether venomous snakes or not in the field can not be done in the case of uncaught specimens. It is not advisable to catch a snake to check if it is poisonous or not using a scale diagram. Most books or websites provide various features of local herpetofauna, in addition to scale diagrams, which help distinguish whether the snake is in a venomous pitch or not.
In certain areas, the presence or absence of a certain scale may be a quick way to distinguish non-venomous and venomous snakes, but used with caution and knowledge of exceptions. For example, in Myanmar, the presence or absence of a loreal scale can be used to distinguish between harmless Colubrid and lethal Elapids. The rule of thumb for this region is that the absence of a loreal scale between the nose scale and the pre-ocular scale suggests that the snake is Elapid and therefore deadly. This rule-of-thumb can not be used without treatment because it can not be applied to poisonous snakes, which have a large number of small scales on the head. Careful examination is also needed to exclude members of the colubrid family known to be poisonous such as Rhabdophis .
In South Asia, it is advisable to take a snake that has bitten someone, if it has been killed, and take it to the hospital for possible identification by the medical staff using a scale diagram so informed decisions can be taken for them. whether and which anti-toxins should be managed. However, attempts to catch him or kill the poisonous snake are not recommended because the snake can bite more people.
Cultural significance
Snakes have become a motif in human culture and religion and objects of fear and fascination around the world. Snake-scale lifestyles, such as Gaboon Viper, both drive out and fascinate the human mind. Such patterns have inspired fear and admiration in humans from prehistoric times and this can be seen in the prevalent art up to that time. The study of the image of fear and psychological stimulation shows that snake scales are a vital component of snake image. Snake scales also appear to have influenced Islamic art in the form of a tessallated mosaic pattern that exhibits great similarities with snake scale patterns.
Snakeskin, with a very periodic cross-hatch or grid pattern, appeals to people's aesthetics and has been used to create many leather articles including fashionable accessories. The use of snake skin however has threatened the snake population and resulted in international restrictions in the trade of certain snake species and populations in the form of CITES provisions. Animal lovers in many countries are now expanding the use of artificial snake skin instead, which is easily produced from embossed leather, patterned fabrics, plastics and other materials.
The scale of the snake appears as a motif regularly in computer action games. The snake scale is described as a guide in the 1982 film Blade Runner . Snake scales also become popular fictional characters, such as the Harry Potter series (Boomslang dried skin is used as raw material to mix Polyjuice ingredients), and also in teenage fiction.
See also
- The term anatomical location
- Canthus (snake)
- Fish scale
- Keratin
- Moult
- Reptile scale
- Snake
- Scale (zoology)
References
Bibliography
- Smith, Malcolm A. (1943) English, Sri Lankan, and Burmese fauna including all Indo-Chinese Sub-regions , Reptiles and Amphibia. Vol I - Loricata and Testudines, Vol II-Sauria, Vol III-Serpentes. Taylor and Francis, London.
Further reading
- Boulanger, George A. , (1890), Indian Indian fauna including Ceylon and Burma, Reptiles and Batrachia . Taylor and Francis, London.
- Leviton AE , Wogan GOU , Koo MS , Zug GR , Lucas RS , Vindum JV (2003) Snake Dangerous Sin from Myanmar , Picture Checklist with Buttons. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 54 (24): 407-462. PDF at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Amphibious Division and Reptile.
- Mallow D. , Ludwig D. , Nilson G. (2003). True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology from Old World Vipers . Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, Florida. 359 pp.Ã, ISBNÃ, 0-89464-877-2.
- Gray, Brian S. (2005) The Serpent's Cast: A Guide to the Identification of skins shed from snakes in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic countries . Center for Herpetology Monograph Series North America no. 1.Serpent's Natural History Story Book Distributor, Lanesboro, Minnesota.
External links
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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