scutation

S1C3U1T1A1T1I1O1N1

noun

The number and arrangement of scutes.

Scrabble 11

Meanings

nounscutation (countable and uncountable, plural scutations)

plural scutations

  1. countableuncountablebiologyThe number and arrangement of scutes.

    The dorsal scutations and configurations of the cephalic plates are also different in the two species.

    1991, Mary E. Petersen, J. B. Kirkegaard, Systematics, Biology and Morphology of World Polychaeta
    3 more examples

    The morphology of dermal scutation in callichthyids is quite different from that in loricariids, with two rather than three more series of overlapping plates along the body, suggesting that the types of scutation in callichthyids and loricariids are non-homologous.

    1957, Contributions in Science - Issues 393-403, page 25

    There has been a great deal of stability in scutation of the carapace during chelonian evolution (Zangerl and Johnson, 1957).

    1989, Charles Wax Caillouet, André M. Landry, Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Biology, Conservation, and Management, page 202

    With regard to the comparative anatomy of the bones of the skull, and the pattern of the scutation of the upper surface of the cranium, I regret that the state of the specimen in Professor Bell's collection does not permit the deduction of other distinctive characters which such parts of the cranial organization so satisfactorily afford.

    2011, Richard Owen, Thomas Bell, Monograph on the Fossil Reptilia of the London Clay, →ISBN, page 28

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

scutation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scutation

MLA

“scutation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scutation. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scutation,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scutation.

Source: scutation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.