Talk:Snakeskin

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Newmansr.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:34, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Proposed Addition
This page has a lot of potential, and I'd like to proposed adding to it. So far, there are not many sources for this page, and I'd like to propose a few that may be useful:

-Filippov, Alexander E., and Stanislav N. Gorb. "Modelling of the Frictional Behaviour of the Snake Skin Covered by Anisotropic Surface Nanostructures." Nature News. Nature Publishing Group, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 10 Mar. 2017. .

-Bauchot, Roland. Snakes: A Natural History. New York: Sterling Pub., 1994. Print.

- Mattison, Christopher. The Encyclopaedia of Snakes. London: Blandford, 1995. Print.

- Mattison, Christopher. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. Print.

- Parker, H.W. Snakes - A Natural History. London: Cornell University Press, 1977. Print.

With the help of these sources, I would like to add information about the soft integument of snake skin to this page, as there is limited information about this on Wikipedia at present. Most of the information that I could find about §snakeskin has been about §snake scale, rather, and I think exploring snake skin on its own is important. It has a vital function, and I think it deserves some attention. it is a critical piece of §snake anatomy and is not well addressed. Further, I would like to add information to this page about snake skin §pigmentation or coloration, which may link to §albinism or §melanin or other such §pigments that contribute to the color of snakes.

Please let me know if you think these sources are appropriate, or if you can think of other sources or content areas that might be worth addressing as I endeavor to improve this page. Newmansr (talk) 02:35, 11 March 2017 (UTC)

Further Additions
From the sources that we gathered last week, I was able to find the following pertinent information regarding snakeskin:

From The Encyclopedia of Snakes:

-Snakes can be ornately patterned. They can be striped, banded, solid, green, blue, yellow, red, black, orange, brown, spotted, or have a unique pattern all their own.

-These color schemes can serve may functions, including camouflage, heat absorption or reflection, or may play other, less understood roles. Carotenoids help produce orange and red colors.

-Melanin cells in the skin often overlap and form complex patterns and sheets that are highly recognizable.

From The New Encyclopedia of Snakes:

The skin that lies beneath snake's scales is responsible for snakes' flexibility.

-Sometimes the soft integument of a snake is colored differently than their hard scales. This is often utilized as a method of predator determent.

-Some snakes polish their scales. They secrete an oily substance from their nasal passage, and then rub the secretion all over the scales. This is done at varying intervals depending on the species of snake, sometimes frequently, other times only after shedding or molting. It is thought that scale polishing is used as a method of waterproofing. and it may also play a role in chemical messaging.

-Skin permeability may change seasonally in snakes. It is known that desert snakes have generally impermeable skins, and that aquatic snakes have a more permeable skin that can sometimes trap water to prevent drying out. Some snakes may change their environment throughout the year, and may subsequently change their skin's permeability as a result. For instance, aquatic snakes may latch on to more water if they are in an environment that is drying out by attracting a layer of water under their scales.

-Snakes shed their skin periodically. This is done to allow for growth, and occurs often in young snakes. As snakes age and their growth rate decreases or ceases, shedding declines in frequency. The outer epidermis of snakes is separate from the internal epidermal layers. The outer layer sloughs off after the snake secretes an oily substance between the outer and inner layers. Generally, the outer layer will come off all at once, and the pattern of the scales can be seen in the shed skin, although pigmentation will be absent. Females may shed their skin before laying a clutch of eggs, and other species may do this after their hibernation period in winter ends.

From Snakes- A Natural History:

-The skin of a snake is a physically protective layer. It helps prevent injury, prevents drying out, and helps snakes to minimize friction.

-Before shedding their skins, snakes will take on a sort of milky blue hue that indicates that the outer epidermal layer has become loosened from the inner epidermal layers.

From Snakes: A Natural History:

-A snake's epidermis is comprised of multiple layers. They have four epidermal layers in total. The outer layer of a snake's skin is shed periodically, and is a highly keratinized layer. Beneath the outer layer is the corneal layer, which is thickened and flexible. Under the corneal layer is intermediary zone and the basal layer.

-The dermis of a snake resides beneath the epidermis. Pigment cells are numerous in this layer. The dermis also houses nerves and collagen fibers.

-The hypodermis is below the dermis. This layer mainly stores fat.

-Coloration of snakes is largely due to pigment cells and their distribution. Some scales have lightly colored centers, which arise from regions with a reduced cuticle. A thinner cuticle indicates that some sensory organ is present. Scales in general are numerous and coat the epidermis, and they come in all shapes and colors. They are helpful in identification of snake species. For more on this see the page dedicated to snake scale.

-Snake scales are not dermal in origin, which is unique among reptiles. Other unique structures of the snake integument include the rattle, and corneal tips that cover vestigial limbs in some species.

-Nerve fibers extend into the snake epidermis and anchor near scales, generally at the rostral ed of the snake. Specifically, nerves anchor to sensory spines and pits, which are touch and thermal detection organs, respectively.

-Chromatophores in the dermis yield coloration when light shines through the corneal layer of the epidermis. There are many kinds of chromatophores.

-Melanophores yield brown pigmentation, and when paired with guanophores, yield grey. When paired with guanophores and lipophores, yellow results, and when guanophore and allophores are added to melanophores, red pigment results.

-Males and females may show varied coloration, as might hatchlings and adults of the same species.

-Dark snakes, dark brown or black in color, appear as such due to melanocytes that are active in the epidermis. When melanin is absent, albino individuals result.

-Snakes do not possess blue or green pigments. these arise from guanophores, which are also called iridocytes. These reside in the dermis. Iridocytes are also responsible for the iridescent appearance of many dark colored snakes.

-Not many glands are present in snake skin. Most snake glands are holocrine glands, meaning that the gland's cells are secreted along with the substance the gland makes. These holocrine glands in snakes do not have their own blood supply, and thus lie closely with vascularized connective tissue. Snakes also possess glands that aid in attracting mates, and some marine snake species possess a salt gland that helps remove excess salt that they have consumed.

From Modeling of the Frictional Behaviour of the Snake Skin Covered By Anisotropic Structure Nanostructures:

-Because snakes lack limbs, their bodies are in contact with some surface at all times, which produces a huge amount of friction. As a result, they have to both minimize friction in order to move forward, and generate their own friction in order to generate enough propulsion to move. Scale and skin orientation helps to accomplish this, and it has been demonstrated that nanostructures on their scales may play a role in this process.

From Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution:

-Reptilian skin is made for land. Reptiles possess extensive keratinization of the epidermis. they also have very few skin glands. They have non-dermal scales, and flexible regions between their scales made of soft integument.

-Reptilian dermis is generally fibrous in nature. The epidermis has three true layers, the stratum basale, stratum granulosum, and stratum corneum. Molting is common, and results in the entire outer layer of epidermis being lost.

-Most glands in reptiles are poorly understood, as there are not many. They are thought to play a role in mating behavior.

I also located one new source that I would like to include:

Kardong, Kenneth V. (2015). Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution (7th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 9780078023026

I will be drafting this information into cohesive sections that I will include on the page. If you have any recommendations for me, or any sources that you think would be useful, please let me know.Newmansr (talk) 00:45, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

Nearly Empty Summary?
What's with the nearly empty summary section of the article? It only contains the word "Snakeskin". 108.20.174.117 (talk) 04:26, 8 May 2020 (UTC)

Proposed Changes
Hi there,

I have a few proposed changes that I believe would benefit this page. My first plan of action is to make an addition to the "Lead" of this page, as of right now, it appears the lead is lacking a citation. I would like to add on to this, so the lead can cover more about snakeskin itself. Additionally, I think the page would benefit from combining the "Color" and "Irridesence" sections together, since irridesence section is a sentence that stands alone.

Please let me know of any further suggestions for this page. Carruxton (talk) 17:12, 29 April 2022 (UTC)