Biological Insights From the Osteohistology of a Nile Crocodile
- 1Department of Biological Sciences University of Cape Town Cape Town South Africa
Abstract
While long bones are mostly utlised for skeletochronology of extant and extinct vertebrates, among crocodilians, dermal bones have also been studied. However, there is a lack of a systematic and comprehensive study of the variation in osteohistology and skeletochronology of limb, axial, and dermal bones of extant crocodilians. Here, we undertake a comprehensive assessment of the histology of multiple postcranial elements of a single, captive adult Crocodylus niloticus (with approximately known age) to assess their utility for skeletochronology. We document the intraskeletal histological variability in the skeleton and show that despite the gastralia recording the highest number of growth rings, the radius, ulna, and fibula are more reliable for skeletochronology. We show substantial variation in the histology of the osteoderms depending on the plane of sectioning, as well as their location on the body of the crocodile. Additionally, we report that anteriorly sectioned dorsal osteoderms preserved the highest number of growth marks. Our study provides important information regarding intraskeletal variation in osteohistology and presents key information regarding the choice of skeletal elements for reliable life history reconstruction of C. niloticus.
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BibTeX
@article{buso2026biological,
title = {{Biological Insights From the Osteohistology of a Nile Crocodile}},
author = {Ayanda Buso and Maria Eugenia Pereyra and Anusuya Chinsamy},
journal = {Journal of Morphology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/jmor.70186},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.70186},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Biological Insights From the Osteohistology of a Nile Crocodile
AU - Ayanda Buso
AU - Maria Eugenia Pereyra
AU - Anusuya Chinsamy
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Journal of Morphology
DO - 10.1002/jmor.70186
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.70186
AB - While long bones are mostly utlised for skeletochronology of extant and extinct vertebrates, among crocodilians, dermal bones have also been studied. However, there is a lack of a systematic and comprehensive study of the variation in osteohistology and skeletochronology of limb, axial, and dermal bones of extant crocodilians. Here, we undertake a comprehensive assessment of the histology of multiple postcranial elements of a single, captive adult Crocodylus niloticus (with approximately known age) to assess their utility for skeletochronology. We document the intraskeletal histological variability in the skeleton and show that despite the gastralia recording the highest number of growth rings, the radius, ulna, and fibula are more reliable for skeletochronology. We show substantial variation in the histology of the osteoderms depending on the plane of sectioning, as well as their location on the body of the crocodile. Additionally, we report that anteriorly sectioned dorsal osteoderms preserved the highest number of growth marks. Our study provides important information regarding intraskeletal variation in osteohistology and presents key information regarding the choice of skeletal elements for reliable life history reconstruction of C. niloticus.
SN - 0362-2525
SN - 1097-4687
ER -