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Armour, although all used for the sole intent to ward off attackers, can be split into defensive and offensive armour. Examples of offensive armour are horns, hooves, antlers, claws and beaks, clubs and pincers, as developed in some mammals, birds, reptiles (including dinosaurs, such as the dromaeosaurid claw and the ceratopsian horn) and arthropods.
This dermal armor is found prominently in many lizards. Some early amphibians have this armor, but it is lost in modern species with the exception a ventral plate, called the gastralia. [3] [4] Osteoderm demonstrates a slightly delayed development compared with the rest of the skeleton, as it does not appear until after hatching has occurred.
Scutes on a crocodile. Reptile skin is covered with scutes or scales which, along with many other characteristics, distinguish reptiles from animals of other classes. They are made of alpha and beta-keratin and are formed from the epidermis (contrary to fish, in which the scales are formed from the dermis).
Osteoderms are found in many groups of extant and extinct reptiles and amphibians, including lizards, crocodilians, frogs, temnospondyls (extinct amphibians), various groups of dinosaurs (most notably ankylosaurs and stegosaurians), phytosaurs, aetosaurs, placodonts, and hupehsuchians (marine reptiles with possible ichthyosaur affinities).
Discarded exoskeleton of dragonfly nymph Exoskeleton of cicada attached to a Tridax procumbens (colloquially known as the tridax daisy)An exoskeleton (from Greek έξω éxō "outer" [1] and σκελετός skeletós "skeleton" [2] [3]) is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the internal organs ...
The scales of all reptiles have an epidermal component (what one sees on the surface), but many reptiles, such as crocodilians and turtles, have osteoderms underlying the epidermal scale. Such scales are more properly termed scutes. Snakes, tuataras and many lizards lack osteoderms. All reptilian scales have a dermal papilla underlying the ...
The fossil has been called "a diapsid reptile in the process of becoming secondarily anapsid". [42] Olivier Rieppel summarizes the phylogenetic origins of the ancestral turtles: "Eunotosaurus is placed at the bottom of the stem section of the turtle tree, followed by Pappochelys and Odontochelys along the turtle stem and on to more crown-ward ...
The pangolin's scaled body is comparable in appearance to a pine cone. It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor , while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail.