These tools will no longer be maintained as of December 31, 2024. Archived website can be found here. PubMed4Hh GitHub repository can be found here. Contact NLM Customer Service if you have questions.


Pubmed for Handhelds

PUBMED FOR HANDHELDS

Search MEDLINE/PubMed

  • Title: Placental ontogeny in Tasmanian snow skinks (genus Niveoscincus) (Lacertilia: Scincidae).
    Author: Stewart JR, Thompson MB.
    Journal: J Morphol; 2009 Apr; 270(4):485-516. PubMed ID: 19107813.
    Abstract:
    Lizards of the viviparous genus Niveoscincus contributed importantly to a classic model for the evolution of placentation of squamate reptiles. This model predicts that: (1) placental function is correlated with placental structural complexity and (2) the type of chorioallantoic placenta attributed to three species of Niveoscincus (N. metallicus, N. ocellatus, N. pretiosus) is intermediate in complexity to a highly placentotrophic type of placenta. Recent studies of two of these species (N. metallicus, N. ocellatus) revealed additional variation in placental structure, as well as variation in the level of placentotrophy; N. metallicus is predominantly lecithotrophic, while N. ocellatus is highly placentotrophic. We used light microscopy to study placental ontogeny in two biennially reproducing species of Niveoscincus (N. greeni, N. microlepidotus) and placental morphology in late stage embryos of N. pretiosus. These data, in combination with prior studies, provide descriptions of placental structure for six of the eight species assigned to this lineage. The genus Niveoscincus has greater variation in placental structure than any other squamate lineage. We recognize four distinct groupings among these six species based on placental structure. The most highly placentotrophic species, N. ocellatus, has a complex placental morphology, yet shares these structures with a predominantly lecithotrophic species, N. microlepidotus. Thus, among species of Niveoscincus, placental structural complexity is not an infallible predictor of overall placental function.
    [Abstract] [Full Text] [Related] [New Search]