Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata AgassizLegler, John M.
Science
Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz
Legler, John M.
Ornate box turtle
Dissection of injured shells revealed the mode of shell regeneration
to be the same whether a large or small portion of the shell had been
damaged. An abrasion may gouge out a small portion of the shell;
burning, freezing, or concussion may kill a portion of the epidermis
and a corresponding portion of bone beneath it without actually
disfiguring the shell. Dead bone and epidermis become loosened at the
margin of the wound. The epidermis sloughs off soon afterward but the
bone adheres to the wound. New epidermis and new bone, growing from
undamaged tissues at the edges of the wound, encroach on the wound
beneath the layer of dead bone. The piece of dead bone is thereby
gradually isolated from the rest of the shell and is sloughed off when
healing is complete. The dead bone may come off in one piece or slough
off gradually at its edges as healing proceeds toward the center of
the wound. The layer of dead bone protects the wound during the
process of regeneration (Pl. 30). Areas of exposed bone become white
and shiny, nearly enamellike in appearance, as a result of wear on the
shell.
The above conclusions, in regard to _T. ornata_, agree basically with
the findings of Woodbury and Hardy (1948:161-162) and Miller
(1955:116) on regeneration of the shell in desert tortoises (_Gopherus
agassizi_). Danini (1946:592-4, English summary) made histological
studies on regeneration of the shell in specimens of _Emys
orbicularis_; he found that new bone trabeculae formed on the surfaces
of undamaged trabeculae at the edge of the wound and formed also in
connective tissue at the center of the wound. Regeneration of bone was
incomplete in some instances where total extirpation of a portion of
the shell had occurred. Regenerated epidermis was usually thicker than
the original scute.
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