Biology Department, College of Science, Taibah University, Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah, Saudi Arabia.
Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
J Anat. 2020 Sep;237(3):504-519. doi: 10.1111/joa.13213. Epub 2020 Jun 2.
Tarentola annularis is a climbing gecko with a wide distribution in Africa north of the equator. In the present paper, we describe the development of the osteocranium of this lizard, from the first appearance of the cranial elements up to the point of hatching. This is based on a combination of histology and cleared and stained specimens. This is the first comprehensive account of gekkotan pre-hatching skull development based on a comprehensive series of embryos, rather than a few selected stages. Given that Gekkota is now widely regarded as representing the sister group to other squamates, this account helps to fill a significant gap in the literature. Moreover, as many authors have considered features of the gekkotan skull and skeleton to be indicative of paedomorphosis, it is important to know whether this hypothesis is supported by delays in the onset of cranial ossification. In fact, we found the sequence of cranial bone ossification to be broadly comparable to that of other squamates studied to date, with no significant lags in development.
环纹鬣蜥是一种分布广泛的攀缘蜥蜴，分布在赤道以北的非洲地区。在本文中，我们描述了这种蜥蜴的颅后骨骼的发育过程，从颅骨元素的首次出现到孵化点。这是基于组织学和透明标本的结合。这是第一次基于全面的胚胎系列而不是少数选定阶段来全面描述有鳞目动物孵化前颅骨发育的情况。由于有鳞目现在被广泛认为是代表其他有鳞目爬行动物的姐妹群，因此这一描述有助于填补文献中的一个重要空白。此外，由于许多作者认为有鳞目蜥蜴的头骨和骨骼特征表明幼态持续现象，因此了解颅骨骨化的延迟是否支持这一假说很重要。事实上，我们发现颅骨骨化的顺序与迄今为止研究的其他有鳞目动物大致相似，发育过程中没有明显的滞后。
