{{Short description|Enlarged scales along the belly of snakes}} [[Image:AB048 Scales on a snakes body.jpg|right|thumb|300px|''Amphiesma stolata'']] In snakes, the '''ventral scales''' or '''gastrosteges''' are the enlarged and transversely elongated scales that extend down the underside of the body from the neck to the anal scale. When counting them, the first is the anteriormost ventral scale that contacts the paraventral (lowermost) row of dorsal scales on either side. The anal scale is not counted.<ref name="C&L04">Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere. 2 volumes. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca and London. 870 pp. 1500 plates. {{ISBN|0-8014-4141-2}}.</ref>
The term '''gastrostege''' (from Greek γαστήρ, γαστρός = belly and στέγη, στέγος = cover, roof) was more often used in the older literature, especially pre-1900 but is rarely used today.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=American Philosophical Society. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/31069 |title=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society held at Philadelphia for promoting useful knowledge |last2=Society |first2=American Philosophical |date=1885 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |volume=v. 22 (1885) |location=Philadelphia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heatwole |first1=Harold |last2=Busack |first2=Stephen |last3=Cogger |first3=Harold |date=September 2005 |title=Geographic Variation in Sea Kraits of the Laticauda Colubrina Complex (Serpentes: Elapidae: Hydrophiinae: Laticaudini) |url=https://bioone.org/journals/herpetological-monographs/volume-19/issue-1/0733-1347_2005_019_0001_GVISKO_2.0.CO_2/GEOGRAPHIC-VARIATION-IN-SEA-KRAITS-OF-THE-LATICAUDA-COLUBRINA-COMPLEX/10.1655/0733-1347(2005)019[0001:GVISKO]2.0.CO;2.full |journal=Herpetological Monographs |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=1–136 |doi=10.1655/0733-1347(2005)019[0001:GVISKO]2.0.CO;2 |issn=0733-1347|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
==Related scales== * Preventral scales * Anal scale * Subcaudal scales * Paraventral scales
==See also== * Snake scale
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Snake scales