Dog · Bone · Neck
Axis
The second cervical vertebra: a long blade-like spine and the dens projecting forward into the atlas, which is the pivot the head turns on.
- System
- Bone
- Region
- Neck
- Sides
- Single, on the midline
- Named parts
- 1
Where it runs from and to
A muscle is told apart from its neighbours by what it takes hold of at each end, which is also what decides what it does when it shortens.
- Action
- The second cervical vertebra: a long blade-like spine and the dens projecting forward into the atlas, which is the pivot the head turns on.
Written for Vetomica in its own words from the standard reference anatomy of the dog; the books it was checked against are listed below.
Named parts
What to look for on the bone, and what each part is called in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria.
- DensDens
- The peg that runs forward into the ring of the atlas; the pivot the head turns on.Miller 2020, p. 271
What it meets
Dens projects into the atlas; long blade-like spinous process.
Bones it articulates with
Joints it forms
- Atlantoaxial joint
Muscles and ligaments that take hold of it
- Apical ligament of dens
- Alar ligaments
- Nuchal ligament
- Intervertebral disc
Measured on the specimen
What the axis is in contact with in the model itself, with the share of the other structure’s surface it covers. A contact is not always a joint: bones that simply lie against one another are in this list too.
- Atlas19%
- Cervical vertebra 318%
- Discus intervertebralis C2-C354%
Measured on the left side.
Terminology
- English
- Axis
- Latin (NAV)
- Axis
- Status
- A valid term in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria
References
Where to read this structure in full, and where the named parts above were read.
- Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Cervical Vertebrae (axis), PDF p. 261
- König & Liebich 2020vertebral column, p. 109
- Dyce 2017ch. 12 Neck, Back and Vertebral Column of the Dog and Cat, p. 390
- NAV 2017Osteologia