Descriptive and functional anatomy of the digital vascular system of the tokay, Gekko gecko

The vascular system of the digits of the tokay is more complex than has hitherto been suspected and has a configuration which suggests it is intimately involved in the process of adhesion. Distinction can be made between lamellae (expanded scales beneath the proximal portion of the digit) and scansors (elaborations of lamellae that contain a large amount of subdermal material and therefore do not technically qualify as scales). Such a distinction is made on anatomical grounds and can be appreciated only if anatomical investigation is carried out. There are no externally obvious features by which lamellae and scansors can be distinguished, except position. Scansors are found beneath hyperextensible phalanges, whereas lamellae are located more proximally and are not subjected to digital hyperextension during locomotion. Whether this distinction can be applied to other pad-bearing geckos and to anoline lizards remains to be seen. The large sinus beneath the penultimate phalanx appears to govern the pressure within the system; the reticular blood systems of the scansors appear to manifest the pressure changes with respect to the locomotor substratum. Changes in pressure within the system probably permit the overlapping scansors to comply precisely with each other and with the substratum. The presence of a system based on fluid pressure differentials means that scansors are deformable along multiple axes at any one time, thus permitting a high degree of compliance with their entire surroundings. It is probable that changes in pressure within the system promote release from the substratum as well as compliance with and attachment to it. The mechanism of control of the system awaits further investigation. The pattern of the digital vascular complex has been considered in relation to the mode of operation of the digits during locomotion. Distal drainage of the sinus is ideally suited to the activity of hyperextension of the digits. This combination permits sequential pressurizing and depressurizing of the scansors and allows the bond to be created or broken in a gradual fashion rather than in an all-or-none manner. By avoiding sudden shifts in the pattern of dynamic loading (the bond is not broken instantaneously but sequentially), the risk of transverse instability during locomotion is lessened. The increase of loading on the other feet is thus gradual. The importance of this is discussed more fully elsewhere in a consideration of the structure and function of scansors. That the digits of the tokay are hyperextended during horizontal as well as vertical locomotion (Russell, '75, p. 463) can now be rationalized not only from the point of view of protection of the setae but also because of the manner in which the vascular system of the digits functions and is drained.