Congenital – Dicephalic Rana sylvatica and several cases of anterior back and head duplication and a supernumerary limb.

Twinning in 27 Rana sylvatica from Alpine, New Jersey.

Infection – Tuberculosis in Aesculapian snake, rough-eyed Cayman, and Mexican black iguana, but no comment on bone disease.

Metabolic – Rickets presenting as soft bones in Hilaire’s terrapin.

Trauma – Bifid-tailed five-lined skink Eumeces fasciatus, citing bifid and trifid tailed lizards (Smith 1946; Banta 1963; Couch 1969; Goin and Goin 1971; Clark 1973).

Metabolic – Nutritional osteodystrophy in Iguana iguana.

Lumpy shell with pyramiding in turtles from calcium deficiency/rickets.

Congenital – Tiger salamander Ambystoma tigrinum tigrinum with supernumerary forearm with seven toes.

Other – Drawing of snake with peculiar constricted distal tail (Vol 2, plate 30).

Pseudopathology – noted general problem existed of accuracy errors (e.g., limbs incorrectly positioned).

Hydra – Seven-headed serpent representation with two forefeet and a long tail, which allegedly belong to Count von Königsmark. The mouths were open and lined with “lion’s teeth” including canines. Also noted a similar report by Conrad Gesner and by Aldovandas and cites “page 91 of 8th book on subterranean animals by Athanasius Kircher.”

Myhtology – Seven-headed serpent representation with two forefeet and a long tail, which allegedly belong to Count von Königsmark. The mouths were open and lined with “lion’s teeth” including canines. Also noted a similar report by Conrad Gesner and by Aldovandas and cites “page 91 of 8th book on subterranean animals by Athanasius Kircher.”

Congenital – Unpaired, median bone, “praeparietale,” between parietals and frontals in dicynodont therapsid (mammal-like reptiles), Lystrosaurus (his Mochlorhinus) platyceps.

Fossil – Unpaired, median bone, “praeparietale,” between parietals and frontals in dicynodont therapsid (mammal-like reptiles), Lystrosaurus (his Mochlorhinus) platyceps.

Congenital – Illustration in Fig. 5 of two Mesosaurus clavicles fused into a single transverse bar, but not discussed in text.

Fossil – Illustration in Fig. 5 of two Mesosaurus clavicles fused into a single transverse bar, but not discussed in text.

Metabolic – Osteoderm role in Alligator mississippiensis in heat transmission and release because of vasculature.

Trauma – Podarcis muralis with regenerated tails moved less often and spent less time in vertical movement.

Congenital – Significant correlation between minimal directional asymmetry and injury, but not with specific side.

Trauma – Notes fourth toe most commonly injured in Agamidae and Lacertidae.

Injuries related to intraspecific combats and from unsuccessful predation attempts.

Correlation between minimal directional asymmetry and injury was stronger in Agamidae than Lacertidae, possibly related to different foraging patterns.

Trauma – Frequency of regeneration correlates with sex in geckos (Werner 1968), geography in teids (Schall and Pianka 1980), altitude in iguanids (Brown and Ruby 1977) and tail shedding with temperature in Gehyra (Bustard 1968) and Stenodactylus (Werner 1968).

Tail loss reduces bipedal running speed in Dipsosaurus (Pond 1978), doubled speed in Phyllodactylus (Daniels 1983) and was associated with increased survival in Uta stansburiana (Niewiarowsky et al. 1997). Males have higher resistance to tail breakage (Fox et al. 1998).

10% of Thamnophis sirtalis fitchi had injured tails, possibly from cattle trampling (Jayne and Bennett 1989) with negative correlation between speed and extent of tail amputation.

Congenital – Positive association between low genetic variability and developmental anomalies (Soulé 1979), more in Anguidae than Amphisbaenidae (Gautschi et al. 2002). Increased frequency of scale anomalies and loss of genetic variation in serially bottlenecked populations of the dice snake Natrix tessellate.

Trauma – Lizard tail loss is more common when there is high pressure by predators for which lizards are a small percentage of the diet.

Trauma – Tail loss causes low social hierarchy (Fox and Baxter 1982) and decreased clutch size (Ballinger and Tinkle 1979; Dial and Fitzpatrick 1981).

Link between tail loss frequency and predation depends on predator specialization; predators more often take atypical animals.

Longer limbs correlated with retention of original tail in Acanthodactylus pardalis.

Trauma – Proneness to tail shedding is hereditary, greater in lizards from predator-dense mainland than insular localities (Pérez-Mellado et al. 1997).

Regeneration is greater among paedotypic individuals.

Frequency of regeneration correlates with sex in geckos (Werner 1968), geography in teids (Schall and Pianka 1980), altitude in iguanids (Brown and Ruby 1977), and tail shedding with temperature in Gehyra (Bustard 1968) and Stenodactylus (Werner 1968).

Tail loss reduces perch height in Anolis (Ballinger 1973), bipedal running speed in Dipsosaurus (Pond 1978), Cnemidophorus (Ballinger et al. 1979), and Cophosaurus (Punzo 1982), climbing speed in Podarcis muralis (Brown et al. 1995), percent of time moving in Lacerta monticola (Martin and Salvador 1997) and Podarcis muralis (Seligmann 1997), success of escape from predators in Scincella (Dial and Fitzpatrick 1984), growth in Sceloporus (Ballinger and Tinkle 1979), and female reproductive investment (related to tail loss and regeneration) in Coleonyx (Dial and Fitzpatrick 1981).

Tail loss in Lacerta monticola results in shift in habitat use (Martin and Salvador 1992), decrease in home range and female access in Psammodromus algirus (Salvador et al. 1995), and decrease in social status in Uta stansburiana (Fox and Rostker 1982; Fox et al. 1990).

Loss of tail in Scincella is compensated for by cryptic behavior (Formanowicz et al. 1990).

Advantage is given by the clubbed regenerated tails in male Agama agama (Schall et al. 1989).

Regenerated tail mimics head shape in Hemitheoconyx caudicinctus (Werner 1972), fooling predators.

Trauma – Autotomy, usually with regeneration, occurs in lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians. Left-handed lizards are accident-prone (injured digits more frequently), lose tail more frequently, suggests greater fluctuating asymmetry in tail losers. Tail retainers are more frequently right-sided dominant.

Sphenodon has 36–29 caudal vertebrae – number uncertain, as intact tails difficult to find – and may live 100 years (Dawbin 1982). Goniourosaurus kuroiwae may also be long lived, as 91% have regenerated tails (Werner et al. 2006). Percentage of intact tails in Sphenodon decreases 1.14% in juveniles and 0.86% in adults per year.

Tail breakage (especially from intraspecific, intrasexual bites) was usually intravertebral in tuatara Sphenodon. Tail losers were more left-sided dominant. Only two lizard taxa exceeded regeneration rate of Sphenodon: Arabian Asaccus (“Phylodactylus”) and Agama bibronii (Arnold 1984).

Regeneration occurs not from end of stump, but from ablation of approximately the posterior half of terminal half-vertebra – from caudal 10 to 27 – and regenerates as a rod, rather than a tube, and is gender-neutral.

Occasional bifurcated tail in Sphenodon.

Homeosaurus is a Jurassic sphenoid with autotomy (Barbour and Stetson 1929).

Autotomy is frequent, but with regeneration in Amphisbaenia (Gans 1978). The only snake with regeneration was Amphiesma stolatum (Sharma 1980).

Terminal stumps of Zootoca (“Lacerta”) vivipara have terminal vertebral units shorter than a half-vertebra (Bellairs and Bryant 1985), as in Takydromus septentrionalis (Boring et al. 1948), in contrast to Laudakia stellio which retains ¾ of terminal vertebra.

Tail regeneration in some crocodiles (Dathe 1960).

Congenital – Lacertidae asymmetries associate with tail state. Right side is dominant in toads. Most species are right dominant: Agamidae 15/21, Anguidae 4/12, Gekkonidae 27/46, Gymnophthalmidae 9/12, Iguanidae 4/9, Lacertidae 34/48, Scincidae 22/37, Teidae 3/5, Varanus griseus, Lepidophyma flavimaculatum, and Sphenodon punctatus. Right dominance was significant in Sphenodon, Anguidae Mesaspis gadovii, Gekkonidae Stenodactylus sthenodactylus, Gekko swinhonis, Lacertidae Acanthodactylus boskianus, A. schmidti, Eremias argus, Lacerta laevis, Meroles anchietae, Mesalina olivieri, and Sphenodontidae Sphenodon punctatus. Left dominance was found in Calotes versicolor and Ptyodactylus guttatus.

Trauma – Lacertidae asymmetries associate with tail state. Right side is dominant in toads. Agamidae have more injuries on the right hind limb, “presumably reflecting more use of that side.” (p. 130). Injured lizards were more frequently left dominant: Agamidae 16/21, Gekkonidae 31/46, Gymnophthalmidae 5/12, Iguanidae 4/9, Lacertidae 25/48, Scincidae 17/37, Teidae 3/5, Varanus and Sphenodon. Gymnophthalmus underwoodi, Crotaphytus collaris, and Sphenops sepsoides (Scincidae) were significantly more right-sided.

Injured terrestrial Rhoptropus afer and Tropiocolotes nattereri were left- dominant, in contrast with tree-climbing relatives.

Rate of injured increased with body size, apparently as a corollary of age in left dominant Ptyodactylus guttatus and Laudakia stellio, but not with Acanthodactylus beershebensis or Mesalina guttulata.

Congenital – Polydactyly in mole salamander Ambystoma tadpoideum.

Congenital – Forelimb polymelia in one, polydactyly in six, ectodactyly in 13 in one of 1738 Chioglossa lusitanica.

Trauma – Bifid tail in one of 1738 Chioglossa lusitanica.

Environmental – Parasitic flatworm Manodistomum syntomentera form cysts in Pacific tree frogs Hyla regilla and long-toed salamanders Ambystoma macrodactylum. 72% of young had missing limbs, ectopic limbs, polydactyly. 40% of 4148 larval and newly metamorphosized and 5% of 1778 adult salamanders had deformities.

Environmental – Trematode (Ribeiroia ondatrae) cyst infestation induced deformities in Pacific Tree frogs (Hyla regilla). Of 280, 140 had extra limbs, 55 grossly distorted, 13 shortened, nine with extra pelvis, four with missing limb. Among 6000 Ambystoma macrodactylum, predominantly hind limb involvement, with polydactyly in 230, forked digits in 12, syndactyly in 17, supernumerary limbs in 30, ectopic hand/ft in 70, short limbs in four, and missing limbs in three.

Congenital – Multilegged cascade frog Rana cascadae from Oregon, wood frog Rana sylvatica and green frog Rana clamitans from New York and leopard frog Rana pipiens from Arizona. Bone triangles also reported.

Vascular – skin permeability to the effect of venous shunting in Pelamis platurus and Pseudemys scripta.

Vascular – Twenty-eight percent of shallow diving Laticauda colubrina sea snake cardiac output bypasses lung via intrapulmonary and intraventricular shunting, compared with 70% in deep diving Hydrophis belcheri, where blood nitrogen levels are independent of depth. This offers protection from decompression-induced nitrogen bubble formation.

Congenital – Higher escape frequency in rear-stripped Psammophis schokari suggests that symmetry correlates with escape ability.

Trauma – Male lizards have more tail loss (Pianka 1967; Vitt et al. 1974).

Female neotropical salamanders have more tail loss than males:

Congenital – Dicephalic turtle.

Trauma – Two Amphiesma stolatum with missing tails.

Congenital – 8.3% of 1333 Lepidochelys kempi embryos that could be staged of the 4165 eggs were deformed: jaw, eyes, carapace, flippers, head, snout. The frequencies varied from 14% in 1980, 27% in 1982, 3% in 1983, 15% in 1984, 11% in 1985, 18% in 1986, and 12% in 1987. Those from 1980 had more jaw deformities, compared to flipper in 1985.

They also stated that 0.5% of 8395 hatching in the 1982–1987 “class” had deformities, including jaws, eyes, flipper, neck, and plastron Jaw pathologies – 2.3% Upper or lower missing, abnormally long, short, or split.

Eye pathologies – 1.8% – Cyclopia or abnormal size.

Flipper pathology – 1.7% – Missing, short, narrow, wide, polydactyly, or clawless.

Head pathology – 1.6% – Absent, dicephalic, enlarged, lumped.

Snout pathology – 0.6% – Abnormally long or short.

Carapace pathology – 1.8% – Saddleback, indentaition, curved, contorted, small, narrowed, or missing posterior component.

Plastron pathology – 0.2% – Incomplete.

Congenital – Twin Cuban iguanas Cyclura macleayi.

Congenital – Dicephalic California king snake – second birthday.

Congenital – Dicephalic California king snake – third birthday.

Congenital – Dicephalic king snake devours two mice at the same time.

Congenital – Dicephalic California king snake – sixth birthday.

Congenital – Varanus e. albigularis with skewed upper jaw and longer lower jaw.

Congenital – Dicephalic California king snake Lampropeltis getula californiae.

Congenital – four dicephalic California king snakes donated in 17 years to San Diego zoo.

Congenital – Dicephalic king snake survives 6 years.

Congenital – Related paedomorphism to giantism.

Fossil – Related paedomorphism to giantism in mosasauroidea.

Trauma – Autotomy in Lacerta dugesii.

Infection – Increased leg length asymmetry in Notophthalmus viridescens caused by Ichthyophonus infestation.

Environmental – Increased leg length asymmetry in Notophthalmus viridescens caused by Ichthyophonus infestation.

Neuropathic – Spinal changes in 10% of free-ranging cane toads (Chaunus [Bufo] marinus) in Australia. Joint spaces were “indistinct or absent with varying degrees of smooth, moderately firm to rugose bony swelling.” Partial or complete loss of joint space was associated with woven bone and irregular hyaline cartilage islands often bridging adjacent vertebrae. Fifteen lesions were associated with inflammation (dense aggregates of degenerated and necrotic macrophages, some heterophils and neutrophils, necrotic bone and cartilage fragments, with articular cartilage fissure or erosion) while nine fusions manifested none.

Vertebral – Spinal pathology in amphibians has been previously rare and limited to scoliosis (Bacon et al. 2006; Ouellet 2000; Speare 1990).

Spinal changes in 10% of free-ranging cane toads (Chaunus [Bufo] marinus) in Australia. Joint spaces (not disc spaces, which are not found in Bufo) were “indistinct or absent with varying degrees of smooth, moderately firm to rugose bony swelling.” Partial or complete loss of joint space was associated with woven bone and irregular hyaline cartilage islands often bridging adjacent vertebrae. Fifteen lesions were associated with inflammation (dense aggregates of degenerated and necrotic macrophages, some heterophils and neutrophils, necrotic bone and cartilage fragments, with articular cartilage fissure or erosion) while nine fusions manifested none. Some of the toads also had granulomatous gastritis or granulomatous hepatitis or granulomatous cystitis. Culture of six of nine intervertebral spaces revealed Ochrobactrum anthropi (formerly known as Achromobacter and closely related to Brucella).

Notes also the controversial spinal arthropathy of snakes attributed to Salmonella.

Trauma – Review of previously published evidence of shark predation and scavenging, offering opinion on species of shark involved in the attack reported by Rothschild and Martin (1993).

Trauma – Protostega gigas FMNH P27452 and FMNH PR58 from the Mooreville Chalk (Upper Santonian to Lower Campanian) in Greene County, Alabama have tooth marks, and FMNH P27452 had five embedded teeth of the Late Cretaceous shark Cretoxyrhina mantelli.

Fossil – Protostega gigas FMNH P27452 and FMNH PR58 from the Mooreville Chalk (Upper Santonian to Lower Campanian), in Greene County, Alabama have tooth marks and FMNH P27452 had five embedded teeth of the Late Cretaceous shark Cretoxyrhina mantelli.

Congenital – Terminonaris cf. T. browni FHSM VP-4387 with fused nasals and maxillae, contrasted with the holotype, which exhibits sutures. They suggested that it could represent variation.

Fossil – Terminonaris cf. T. browni FHSM VP-4387 with fused nasals and maxillae, contrasted with the holotype, which exhibits sutures. They suggested that it could represent variation.

Trauma – Elasmosaurid plesiosaur Futabasaurus suzukii from the Upper Cretaceous of central Japan with broken lamniform shark Cretalamna (= Cretolamna) appendiculata teeth in humerus and three vertebrae.

Fossil – Elasmosaurid plesiosaur Futabasaurus suzukii from the Upper Cretaceous of central Japan with broken lamniform shark Cretalamna (= Cretolamna) appendiculata teeth in humerus and three vertebrae

Congenital – 16% of viviparous red-sided garter snakes Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis have different number of ribs on either side of body, related to suboptimal maternal thermoregulation during pregnancy. Asymmetric males mated less successfully than symmetric males. They noted that gravid viviparous snake and lizard females maintain higher and less variable body temperatures than non-gravid. Females more often had asymmetric ventral scale patterns.

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Related posts:

1. Bibliography H-L
2. Bibliography M-N
3. Frequently Cited in Discussion of Amphibian and/or Reptile Pathology but which do not Discuss Actual Amphibian or Reptile Abnormalities
4. List of Fossil Taxa

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