{{Short description|Reptile scale type}} {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | total_width = 320 | header = | image1 = Rostralelateral.PNG | image2 = Rostraledorsal.PNG | footer = Head of the rat snake ''Coluber ventromaculatus'' in lateral (left) and dorsal (right) views with the rostral scale highlighted }}
The '''rostral scale''', or rostral, in snakes and other scaled reptiles is the median (midline) plate on the tip of the snout that borders the mouth opening.<ref name="W&W57">Wright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates. (7th printing, 1985). 1,105 pp. (in two volumes). {{ISBN|0-8014-0463-0}}.</ref> It corresponds to the mental scale in the lower jaw. The term pertains to the rostrum, or nose. In snakes, the shape and size of this scale is one of many characteristics used to differentiate species from one another.
{{gallery |Aspidelaps scutatus scutatus 96904739.jpg|The shield-nosed cobra (''Aspidelaps scutatus'') has a greatly enlarged rostral scale.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Deufel |first=Alexandra |date=2017 |title=Burrowing with a kinetic snout in a snake (Elapidae: ''Aspidelaps scutatus'') |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.20743 |journal=Journal of Morphology |language=en |volume=278 |issue=12 |pages=1706–1715 |doi=10.1002/jmor.20743 |issn=0362-2525|url-access=subscription }}</ref> |Leptophis mystacinus (holotype, in natura - dorsolateral).png|The parrot snake ''Leptophis mystacinus'' is named for the dark patch on its rostral scale.<ref name="L.mystacinus25">{{Cite journal |last1=Albuquerque |first1=Nelson R. |last2=Martins |first2=Roullien H. |last3=Carvalho |first3=Priscila S. |last4=Shepard |first4=Donald B. |last5=Santana |first5=Diego J. |date=2025-01-30 |title=A new species of parrot snake, ''Leptophis'' (Serpentes: Colubridae) from the Brazilian Cerrado |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=13 |article-number=e18528 |doi=10.7717/peerj.18528 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=11787803 |pmid=39897499 |doi-access=free}}</ref> }} ==Related scales== *Nasorostral scale *Mental scale *Labial scales
==See also== *Snake scales *Anatomical terms of location
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Snake scales