ArticleJournal of the Royal Society, Interface2015
Evidence of a molecular boundary lubricant at snakeskin surfaces.
Article in Journal of the Royal Society, Interface, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Surface Topography and Ultrastructure of the Spectacular Cells in the Eyes of Land and Sea Snakes (Squamata, Reptilia): Functional Adaptations of Micro-Ornamentation.Journal of morphology · 2025Article
- Effect of Surface Morphology and Internal Structure on the Tribological Behaviors of Snake Scales fromBiomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Measuring calcium content in plants using NEXAFS spectroscopy.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Evidence that gecko setae are coated with an ordered nanometre-thin lipid film.Biology letters · 2022Article
- Functional consequences of convergently evolved microscopic skin features on snake locomotion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- NEXAFS imaging to characterize the physio-chemical composition of cuticle from African Flower Scarab Eudicella gralli.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Ontogenetic scaling patterns of lizard skin surface structure as revealed by gel-based stereo-profilometry.Journal of anatomy · 2019Article
- The Friction Properties of Firebrat Scales.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During slithering locomotion the ventral scales at a snake's belly are in direct mechanical interaction with the environment, while the dorsal scales provide optical camouflage and thermoregulation. Recent work has demonstrated that compared to dorsal scales, ventral scales provide improved lubrication and wear protection. While biomechanic adaption of snake motion is of growing interest in the fields of material science and robotics, the mechanism for how ventral scales influence the friction between the snake and substrate, at the molecular level, is unknown. In this study, we characterize the outermost surface of snake scales using sum frequency generation (SFG) spectra and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) images collected from recently shed California kingsnake (Lampropeltis californiae) epidermis. SFG's nonlinear optical selection rules provide information about the outermost surface of materials; NEXAFS takes advantage of the shallow escape depth of the electrons to probe the molecular structure of surfaces. Our analysis of the data revealed the existence of a previously unknown lipid coating on both the ventral and dorsal scales. Additionally, the molecular structure of this lipid coating closely aligns to the biological function: lipids on ventral scales form a highly ordered layer which provides both lubrication and wear protection at the snake's ventral surface.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.