Chapter 1, The Reptilian Spectacle - UWSpace - University of ...

3.3.4 Spectacle Scale Thickness
Mean spectacle scale thickness of each family is tabulated in table 3-4. The thicknesses of the
spectacle scales for each specimen are tabulated in table 3-2 on page 74. The spectacle scales of geckos
are quite thin at 3-4 µm, thinner than even the thinnest among snakes (mojave rattlesnake, Crotalus
scutulatus, at 5 µm, followed by the green tree python, Morelia viridis, at 10 µm). The thickness of
snake spectacle scales varies even within species, though the cause of this variation is unknown.
The thickness of spectacle scales differs significantly between families (K-W p < 0.0001).
Thicknesses grouped by family are plotted in Fig. 3-7 (next page). Colubrids have significantly thicker
spectacle scales than all other families measured, with no differences found between the other families
(Table 3-5, next page).
Family Mean Thickness (µm)
Boidae 16
Colubridae 30
Pythonidae 16
Viperidae 14
Table 3-4. Mean thicknesses of spectacle scales grouped by family. Colubrids have significantly
thicker spectacle scales than boids, pythonids, and viperids, which differ little among themselves.
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