QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by BAUER, A. M. Articles by SHADWICK, R. E. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by BAUER, A. M. Articles by SHADWICK, R. E.

Journal of Experimental Biology 145,79-102 (1989)
Published by Company of Biologists 1989

Mechanical Properties and Morphological Correlates of Fragile Skin in Gekkonid Lizards

AARON M. BAUER ¹, ANTHONY P. RUSSELL ², and ROBERT E. SHADWICK ²

¹ Biology Department, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
² Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

The mechanical properties of gekkonid lizard skin are investigated for the first time. Although the skin of certain geckos, such as Gekko gecko, behaves in ‘typical’ vertebrate fashion, that of others, such as Ailuronyx seychellensis, exhibits unusual properties associated with identifiable morphological specializations. Light and scanning electron microscopy reveal that Ailuronyx dermis is functionally bilayered; the stratum compactum is divided into inner and outer layers by intervening loose connective tissue. The inner layer is strong and tough and does not differ significantly in its properties from that of Gekko gecko whole skin. The much thicker outer layer, however, is only 1/20 as strong and 1/50 as tough as the inner layer, and exhibits preformed zones of weakness. In nature, Ailuronyx parts with considerable portions of the outer components of the skin as an antipredator escape mechanism. Skin samples from 17 additional gecko species varied considerably in their strength, stiffness and toughness. None of the forms with tough skin employs regional integumentary loss as a predator escape strategy. Weak skin alone is not sufficient to permit regional integumentary loss, as the capability to lose the skin involves not only inherent properties of the tissue, but also features of the mechanical interaction of skin layers with one another and with the underlying body wall.

Key words: skin, gecko, mechanics, morphology

Accepted on May 3, 1989

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. Rivera, A. H. Savitzky, and J. A. Hinkley Mechanical properties of the integument of the common gartersnake, Thamnophis sirtalis (Serpentes: Colubridae) J. Exp. Biol., August 1, 2005; 208(15): 2913 - 2922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]