What do monitor lizards and the Stegosaurus have in common? According to a new study, they both have osteoderms.
New research published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society revealed for the first time that monitor lizards, commonly known as goannas in Australia, have osteoderms, a bony structure beneath the skin. This new information could help researchers understand monitor lizard evolution and how they’ve adapted to some of the world’s harshest environments.
“What’s so exciting about this finding is that it reshapes what we thought we knew about reptile evolution," said Jane Melville, Museums Victoria Research Institute Senior Curator of Terrestrial Vertebrates, in a press release. “It suggests that these skin bones may have evolved in response to environmental pressures as lizards adapted to Australia’s challenging landscapes.”
According to the press release, this is the first large-scale study of osteoderms in lizards and snakes. The international research team scanned ...
