Episode 238 - Osteoderms (Skin Bones)
3/1/20262 hr 36 min
Some bones are only skin deep! In many species of reptiles, mammals, and amphibians, bones called osteoderms develop within the skin, serving as body armor, additional muscular support, display features, or any number of other functions. This episode, we explore the extraordinary diversity of osteoderm anatomy, we take a tour through the many and varied osteoderms of Earth history, and we investigate a long list of hypothesized functions for these unusual bones.
In the news: reptile skin, dinosaur quills, dinosaur bites, and cannibal snakes.
Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00 News: 00:06:25 Main discussion, Part 1: 00:46:35 Main discussion, Part 2: 01:26:35 Patron question: 02:24:05
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsWill· Host0:00
You're listening to the Common Descent Podcast.
David· Host0:03
[upbeat music] Hello, Will.
Will· Host0:20
Hello, David.
David· Host0:21
Hello, listeners, and welcome to episode 238 of Common Descent. This episode, our topic is osteoderms, AKA skin bones.
Will· Host0:33
Yes, good stuff.
David· Host0:35
This is a really fun one. Th- s- s- osteoderms are a topic that has come up a lot on the podcast, and these ... This is a f- part of animal anatomy that you and I are both extremely familiar with- Yes ... because we've both worked on animals that have osteoderms. But it is a fairly obscure piece of anatomy.
Will· Host0:56
Yeah. Beha- it's one of those that needs to be defined every time it's said.
David· Host1:00
Yes. This is something where I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of our listeners are only familiar with this concept 'cause they've heard us talk about it.
Will· Host1:08
Yep.
David· Host1:09
So in this episode, we will talk about what osteoderms are, what we're discussing, what the morphology, the anatomy of these bones is, how they form in the skin, and who has them, right? This is the bony armor of things like alligators, and a bunch of lizards, and armored dinosaurs. And