Armour (anatomy)
A carapace is a special form of the construction of the outer skin as they can be found in turtles and crocodiles. In these animals, the skin is magnified by flat plates of bone, known as osteoderms. This, as with the crocodiles, be incorporated into the skin and grow from it, or, as with most turtles, directly represent the outer casing.
The Carapace of crocodiles
The crocodiles have mainly on the back bone plates. In this case, the uppermost layer of the skin of the animals, the cornea (stratum corneum ) consists of a variable number of layers of collagen fibers. Molts there at the crocodiles not, the top layer is renewed by simple abrasion.
The horny dorsal scales keeled consist of horny plates, which are called carapaces. Below these shields are ossified plates. It is four to ten artabhängig adjacent plates which are arranged in a plurality of longitudinal rows, each row corresponding to a longitudinal vertebrae of the spine. The shields in the neck of the animals that Nuchalplatten are highlighted with osteoderms, forming species-typical pattern. The ventral scales of most species are flat and square and almost all kinds exist here no bony plates. At the tail form the ventral scales and the carapaces rings, both sides carry a comb scales in the front area, which passes to the tail tip in a single shed comb. All the other body parts wear horn shields, in some species can form also thinking of the extremities, neck, and even on the eyelids bone reinforcements. Especially the highly ossified species are mostly rather small and relatively immobile, including about the smooth forehead caimans ( generic Paleosuchus ), the dwarf crocodile ( Ostaeolaemus tetraspis ). The Black Caiman ( Melanosuchus niger), however, belongs, despite also strong armor to the large crocodile species. Other major species such as the saltwater crocodile ( Crocodylus porosus ) protect themselves mainly by their size and have correspondingly less pronounced Carapace.
The carapace of turtles
The turtles Carapace is the typical " bowl" consisting of a carapace ( carapace ) and a breastplate ( plastron ). These are interconnected by the so-called "bridge". The tank is in the lowest layer of solid bone, which have formed evolutionarily from the spine, the ribs and the pelvis. There is a layer of skin over the bone. In the soft-shelled turtles, this skin is leathery, while the remaining species form on the skin the typical tank shields made of keratin.
The appearance of the entire tank can be very different depending on the species. Thus, the carapace in many species to one or three longitudinal keels. In particular, in the Map turtles this keel is very prominent. Various genres ( for example, the doses and Cuora ) can their plastron fold by means of a hinge and thus enclose the entire tank. A similar function has a hinge in the carapace of turtles joint.
The turtle shell Typical diseases are the Panzernekrose and the tanks fracture.