526 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
Appendix A 
Glossary 
See also diagrams of head and body scalation in a typical snake on page 8 
For additional terms, see Peters, James A. 1964. Dictionary of Herpetology. Flafner Publ. Co., 
New York, vii + (1) + 362 + (30 pp. figs.) 
anal plate: (see preeloaeal seale). 
anterior: in front or toward the front; the head as the most anterior portion of the body [its oppo¬ 
site, posterior {q.v .}]. 
arboreal: inhabiting or frequenting trees, including animals that spend at least part of the time in 
trees or high bushes. 
azygous: not one of a pair; a single scale, usually on the midline as a single, median head scale, 
body scale rows: see scale rows (body), 
caudal: tail. 
clade: a group of phylogenetically related organisms that is defined by features exclusive to all its 
members and that distinguish the group from all others, 
cloaca: chamber just anterior to the base of the tail; it receives all digestive, excretory, and repro¬ 
ductive materials prior to their exit to the outside through the vent, 
distal: away from; behind the point of origin or attacliment; e.g., behind and away from the front 
end or head region measured from a refernce point that is more forward, 
dorsal (above): toward the back or upper side of head or body [its opposite, ventral {^.v.}]. 
dorsum: the back or upper side of body. 
hemipenis (plural, hemipenes): one of a pair of male copulatory organs; at rest, the hemipenes are 
stored in a cavity in the tail; during copulation, only one is everted; it appears hke a bulbous 
finger of a glove, is often highly ornamented organ, and protrudes from the vent opening, 
imbricate: overlapping [as opposed to juxtaposed {^.v.}], when one scale overlaps the one imme¬ 
diately beliind. [its opposite, juxtaposed 
juxtaposed: placed side by side, not overlapping [its opposite, imbricate {^.v.}]. 
keels: raised elongate ridges on scales, usually in median position on head and/or body scales, 
labial scales: scales bordering the lips of the mouth, those bordering the upper lip are upper or 
supralabials, the lower lip, lower, sub- or infralabials, 
lateral: the side. 
longitudinal: entending along the long axis of the body, from head to tail, 
loreal scale: a scale on the side of the head placed between the eye and the nostril; usually sepa¬ 
rated from the anterior border of the eye orbit by a preocular scale [^.v.], which may be divid¬ 
ed by a horizontal gi'ove into two scales, and from the nostril by the posterior portion of the 
nasal scale [^.v.]; in the absence of a loreal scale, the nasal and preocular scales are in contact 
with one another. 
nasal scale(s): scale pierced by the nostril; scale may be divided by a suture into anterior and pos¬ 
terior segments. 
occipital scale(s): usually a pair of enlarged scales at the rear end of the head behind the enlarged 
parietal scales [^.v.]; occasionally a single, small scale partially inserted betwen the parietals 
along their posterior edge or several small scales bordering the parietals behind, 
parietal scales: a pair of enlarged scales on the posterior part of the dorsum of the head, usually 
the last of the enlarged head scales, 
posterior: behind or toward the rear [its opposite, anterior 
postocular scale(s): one or more scales that border the back edge of the eye orbit. 
