Fingerprinting snakes: paleontological and paleoecological implications of zygantral growth rings in Serpentes.

ABSTRACT: We introduce a new non-destructive source of skeletochronological data with applications to species identification, associating disarticulated remains, assessing minimum number of individuals (MNI), and collection management of fossil snakes, but with potential implications for all bony vertebrates, extinct or extant. Study of a diverse sample of Recent henophidian snakes confirms that annual growth cycles (AGCs) visible on the surface of the vertebral zygantrum correspond to lines of arrested growth in osteohistological thin sections and accordingly reflect chronological age. None of the specimens considered here showed signs of remodelling of the zygantrum, suggesting that a complete, unaltered age record is preserved. We tested potential influences on AGCs with a single experimental org

SUBMITTER: Petermann H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5971835 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature