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Dog · Bone · Pelvic limb

Fibula

A slender bone lateral to the tibia, carrying no weight but giving muscles their origin and forming the lateral malleolus of the hock.

System
Bone
Region
Pelvic limb
Sides
Paired: left and right
Named parts
5

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
A slender bone lateral to the tibia, carrying no weight but giving muscles their origin and forming the lateral malleolus of the hock.

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.

Head of the fibulaCaput fibulae
The proximal end, held against the back of the lateral tibial condyle.Miller 2020, p. 355
Neck of the fibulaCollum fibulae
The short waist below the head.Miller 2020, p. 355
Body of the fibulaCorpus fibulae
The slender shaft, which carries no weight but gives muscles their origin.Miller 2020, p. 355
Lateral malleolus
The distal end, forming the outside of the hock.Miller 2020, p. 355
Articular surface of the malleolusFacies articularis malleoli
The facet on its inner face that meets the talus and the calcaneus.Miller 2020, p. 356

What it meets

Thin lateral crus bone along the tibia; lateral malleolus.

Bones it articulates with

Joints it forms

  • Proximal tibiofibular joint

Muscles and ligaments that take hold of it

  • Lateral collateral ligament of stifle
  • Lateral collateral ligament of tarsus
  • Interosseous membrane of crus

Measured on the specimen

What the fibula 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.

Measured on the left side.

Terminology

English
Fibula
Latin (NAV)
Fibula
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, Fibula, PDF p. 355
  • König & Liebich 2020skeleton of the pelvic limb, p. 243-263
  • Dyce 2017ch. 17 Hindlimb of the Dog and Cat, p. 481
  • NAV 2017Osteologia