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Thursday, January 29 2026

The Evolution of the Osteoderm discovered

By Cindy Steinle
Thu, January 29 2026 at 02:45

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!

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