While skin bone plates are well studied in crocodylians (shown here in a gharial, in purple), their presence in lizards and snakes has long remained poorly understood. CT data provided by Jaimi Gray (2022, UF 33421) via MorphoSource.

With the horrible weather, it seems a great time to get into this study that looks at the how and why of osteoderms or the bony skin plate that many reptiles have and this awesome study gets deep into it!

The original belief was that animals with the bony plated scales all had a similar ancestor, but now with modern technology that has been disproven. So what was the origin?

We found that most lizards first evolved osteoderms during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, more than 100 million years ago. At that time, some of the most iconic dinosaurs roamed the Earth, including the towering Brachiosaurus, the fierce Allosaurus, and the plate-backed Stegosaurus.

The climate and ecosystems were changing rapidly, creating new challenges and opportunities. Armour may have helped lizards survive predators, cope with harsh environments, or move into new habitats.

There was one species that decided to shift gear, lose plates, only to regrow them later. To learn what that was, you gotta read the article! For that, click here!

Greg Pandelis, collections manager at the ARDRC and coauthor of the latest scientific publication on the distribution of Texas reptiles. Photo from Fox4

Rumor has it rattlesnakes are everywhere in Texas, but the reality is quite different. Recently a Western Diamondback was discovered in a garage in Denton County, Texas which is out of their normal range. They typically are found more in the drier, desert areas of Texas rather than the more forested, which is where Denton County is located. The animal is now at University of Texas at Arlington’s Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center (ARDRC).

Pandelis believes the snake came from a small undetected population within Denton County rather than migrating from neighboring areas.

"This is especially odd because of how common that snake generally is," Pandelis said. "It’s not something that usually eludes detection. So this specimen is very important and interesting because it will reform our understanding of not just where the species occurs in Texas, but maybe even what its habitat requirements are and what its limits are, as far as where it can occur and where it can’t. Having this individual snake preserved as a research specimen is so important because it will fill a gap in our understanding of this species and will be used in studies being done on Diamondback biology," said Pandlis.

To read the full article and learn how important citizen scientists can be, click here!