Characteristics of Reptiles

Uses the environment to regulate their body temperature.

Cold-blooded.

Aquatic or terrestrial.

Breathing is exclusively by lungs.

Naked, scaly or with bony plates.

Most lay eggs

4 main groups of reptiles

Order Testudines - turtles

Order Squamata - snakes and lizards

Order Crocodilia - crocodiles and alligators

Order Sphenodonta (Rhynchocephalia) - Sphenodon punctatus, tuatara

Skin

Reptiles have a tough dry and scaly skin that protects against desiccation and injury.

Epidermis is shed periodically

They have chromatophores that provides color.

Their scales are primarily composed of the protein called keratin which are formed from the
epidermis.

Reptile skin (integument) is comprised of two main layers, the epidermis and the dermis.
Epidermis: characterized by complete covering of keratin (the same stuff that makes up mammalian hair
and mammalian, avian, and reptilian nails/claws also makes up the plates we call "scales"). The keratin
may be thick, as on the belly and tail, or thin, as on the dewlap. The hard spikes on such lizards as
bearded dragons and horned lizards are just harder bits of integument, as are the keeled ridges on many
snakes' scales and some lizards, such as some iguanas. The keratin is composed of many layers of very
thin, flat cells. The closer they get to the surface of the reptile, the more highly compacted they are as
they are pressed against by new keratin cells being formed lower down in the epidermal layer, the stratum
germinativum. Three such layers of increasingly compacted keratin cells are formed, called, from the
surface inward toward the stratum germinativum, the Oberhautchen layer, the beta-keratin layer, and the
alpha-keratin. Some reference the epidermis as being three layers:
Stratum corneum: heavily keratinized outer layer.

Intermediate zone: composed of stratum germinativum cells in various stages of development.

Stratum germinativum: the deepest layer, consisting of cuboidal cells. Undergoes mitosis to form the
intermediate zone.
During shedding (ecdysis), the mitosis in the stratum germinativum forms the new cells moved up to the
intermediate zone and those cells up to the stratum corneum. It is during this time that the skin is
metabolically active and it in this period of activity that healing will occur. Otherwise, skin is essentially
inert.
Exception to the norm... The exception to the above is the chelonians. Their shell, which many people
think is just bone, is actually covered with living tissue composed of keratinized epidermis covering the
underlying dermal plate which is itself the chelonians vertebrae and rib cage. (Thus, the practice of
piercing a chelonians's shell to put a ring in with which to tether chelonian (which is in itself inhumane), or
to decorate it with stud earrings, is akin to our puncturing our skulls.)
Dermis: consists of connective tissue. In some reptiles, there may be small bones called osteoderms.
These are what form the distinctive specialized scales on savannah monitors and crocodilians, for
example.
Reptile skin heals much more slowly than mammalian skin, often taking about 6 weeks for the defect to
be fully restored.