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Thread: On the subject of the cloacal "button" scales on m

  1. #1
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    Default On the subject of the cloacal "button" scales on m

    A little while ago someone inquired as to the purpose of the "button" scales on male tegus (positioned to either side of the cloaca). At the time I didn't have a definitive answer and so gave a few postulates. I can't remember what thread it was in, so I'm starting a new one for the answer.

    I just got my hands on an adult male and cut it up. The "buttons" are not glandular in any sense by gross inspection (maybe on a microscopic level, but certainly not as one would expect for a typical gland) so that eliminates a secretory/excretory function.
    Their role appears to be as an anchoring point internally for ligaments. These ligaments attach on one end to the inside of the integument (where the buttons are), and at their other end to muscular sheaths that envelope the hemipenes. I would posit the muscular sheaths contract to evert the hemipenes, and the ligaments attach to the "buttons" in order to keep everything in place.

  2. #2
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    Interesting... thanks for sharing.

  3. #3
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    That was me, and I thank you!

    What I find interesting from the point of view of comparative anatomy is that other lizard species do not have buttons to hold ligature. I'm not a keeper of monitors, do they have them? Why don't iguanas have them (I know their equipment is larger proportional to body size). I know iguanids are very different and have waxy pores as well...but it just got my curiosity going.

    What herpetology text would you recommend for a study of physiology and not so much taxonomy? I saw Laurie Venn (sp?) had a text but I got the impression it mostly covered taxonomy.
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  4. #4
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    thats cool, what kind of classes did you take to learn animal (reptilian) pathology?
    www.myspace.com/christcody

    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu (Thor)
    0.0.1 Ball Python (Montee)

  5. #5
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    Kudos to you, Laurafl, for asking the appropriate scientific question. As far as I know (admittedly could be very wrong) no others outside Teiidae possess these structures.

    As for what classes I took, well, wouldn't say there was one class in particular, more a matter of paying attention and seeking out answers. Any time I've had the opportunity to necropsy something, I do it. Having a couple degrees and spending 6 years teaching comparative anatomy helps as well.

  6. #6
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    Ahem....text recommendations?
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  7. #7
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    As in a 'textbook'? Particular to this topic, there aren't any. Particular to tegus, there aren't any. Particular to reptile anatomy, there aren't any. Most are so general and nonspecific as to be useless. You pretty much have to do what I've done, hunt down what you can, quit looking in popular literature (90% of it is garbage) and get an account with a nearby college/university so that you can get access to the scientific literature, talk to the librarians there and learn how to use their systems for tracking down data. If you can, take some courses in comparative anatomy, histology and physiology.
    There are some good books out there, Zug and Pough each have a text on Herpetology in general, Mader's veterinary text for Reptile Medicine is pretty good, but for the information you want, it's not in an easy to get text. My books probably have a sum total value of $20000 and I know there's next to nothing in there on tegu anatomy, especially not with nice pictures or such.

  8. #8
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    Rats....

    I'm already involved with graduate work on another subject and all of my physiology and medical courses were of the human variety. All my comparative anatomy courses were agriculture based (cattle, horses, pigs, poultry).

    thanks for the references.
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  9. #9
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    So the appearance of these buttons is a definite clue as to sex? My big fat jowly tegu does not have them, while the long, thin, feminine looking tegu DOES. I'm getting messages that outward appearance has NOTHING to do with sexing!

  10. #10
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    As far as I've seen, the 'buttons' are DEFINITE male characteristics. Jowls and body shape can be erroneous (think of how many people you've seen where you can't tell what sex they actually are because the normal cues we associate with particular sexes can be confusing).

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