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Overlying the boney elements are a series of scutes, which are made of keratin and are a lot like horn or nail tissue. In the center of the carapace are five vertebral scutes and out from these are four pairs of costal scutes. Around the edge of the shell are 12 pairs of marginal scutes.
Scutes on an alligator foot. A scute (/ s k j uː t / ⓘ) or scutum (Latin: scutum; plural: scuta "shield") is a bony external plate or scale overlaid with horn, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, and the feet of birds.
2 Intergular scute not in contact with the pectoral scutes 3 – Intergular scute contacts and partly separates the pectoral scutes Pseudemydura. 3 Suture between the second and third costal scutes contacting the seventh marginal scute; suture between the third and fourth costal scutes contacting the ninth marginal scute 4
The "central scutes" extend over the dorsal mid line of the carapace from head to tail, with the "costal scutes" running along each side of the central scutes. The "marginal scutes" run along the outer sides of the shell, and the "nuchal scutes" are found in the area directly behind the turtle's head.
The adult's oval carapace is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal scutes. In each bridge adjoining the plastron to the carapace are four inframarginal scutes, each of which is perforated by a pore. The head has two pairs of prefrontal scales. These turtles change color as they ...
Typically, 11 or 12 pairs of marginal scutes rim the carapace. [8] Five vertebral scutes run down the carapace's midline, while five pairs of costal scutes border them. [21] The nuchal scute is located at the base of the head. [21] The carapace connects to the plastron by three pairs of inframarginal scutes forming the bridge of the shell. [21]
The scutes on the shell were comprised of five notedly large vertebrals, surrounding narrowed costals, and 23 total marginal scutes. Sixteen square marginals are placed, in pairs, at the ends of the four costal scutes, with the remaining marginals along the margins of vertebral scutes I and IV.
Ancestral turtle features of the shell include nine costal scutes and an epiplastron with a dorsal process. Derived features shared with early turtles like Proterochersis and cryptodirans include an antrum postoticum of the squamosal , a fused basipterygoid articulation, and 11 peripheral osteoderms.