Cornification in developing claws of the common Australian skink (Lampropholis guichenoti) (Squamata, Lacertidae)

An ultrastructural and immunocytochemical study on developing lizard claws has been done. Claws originate from an epidermal thickening covering the tip of digits under which mesenchymal cells aggregate. The outer side of the dorsal terminal scale of a digit gives origin to the unguis, and suggests that claws are modified scales sustained by the last phalanx. Beneath four–seven layers of embryonic alpha‐keratin cells, beta‐keratin cells are...