Mental scale

Scales on a snake's head.

The mental scale, or mental, in snakes and other scaled reptiles refers to the median plate on the tip of the lower jaw.[1] It is a triangular scale that corresponds to the rostral of the upper jaw.[2] The reference to the term 'mental' comes from the mental nerve which addresses the chin and lower jaw in animals. In snakes, the shape and size of this scale is sometimes one of the characteristics used to differentiate species from one another.

Related scales

• Rostral scale
• Labial scales

See also

• Snake scales
• Anatomical terms of location

References

1. Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca & London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a Division of Cornell University Press. (7th printing, 1985). 1,105 pp. (in two volumes). ISBN 0-8014-0463-0.
2. Mallow D, Ludwig D, Nilson G (2003). True Vipers: Natural History and Toxinology of Old World Vipers. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 359 pp. ISBN 0-89464-877-2.