squames

Noun

squame (plural squames)

1. The scale, or exopodite, of an antenna of a crustacean.
2. A flake of dead skin tissue.
   • EGF increased proliferation and squame formation and induced keratinization in cultured MA cells, an observation heretofore not reported in rat MA cells.1984, Gheorghe Stoica, In Vivo Diverse Spectrum of Neoplasms Induced in 30-day-old Rats and in Vitro Neoplastic Transformation of Rat Mammary Epithelial Cells Following a Single Pulse of...
3. A squamous (scale-like) cell.
   • Here the invading cell masses of the cancer consist of short thick squames, and the nearest approach to cell nest formation may be only a whorling of those squames in the centres of the cell masses.1928, Journal of the Cancer Research Committee of the University of Sydney, Volume 1, page 210
4. A bony plate.
   • Most of the right temporal bone is well-preserved, with the exception of much of the zygoma and the upper edge of the temporal squame (Plate 8).1991, Phillip V. Tobias, The Skulls, Endocasts, and Teeth of Homo Habilis, page 84