Dog · Set · Tail
The caudal vertebrae
Vertebrae caudales
The bones of the tail, and the part of the column that varies most from dog to dog. They begin as ordinary vertebrae and end as plain rods.
- Region
- Tail
- Members
- 18
- Own page
- None
- Named parts
- 6
How they differ along the set
What changes from one end of the series to the other, which is most of what there is to know about any one of them.
- About twenty on average, though the count runs anywhere from six to twenty-three.Miller 2020, p. 287
- They vary more than the vertebrae of any other region, though the number may hold steady within a breed.Miller 2020, p. 287
- The first few are built like a vertebra anywhere else; further down the arches and processes are pared away until the segments are simple rods.Miller 2020, p. 287
- The first is occasionally fused to the sacrum.Miller 2020, p. 287
- Three separate haemal arches lie beneath the front of the tail and are not counted among the vertebrae.Miller 2020, p. 260
- They were formerly called the coccygeal vertebrae.Miller 2020, p. 287
Named parts
What a member of this set carries, and what each part is called in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria.
- BodyCorpus vertebrae
- The block the vertebra is built on, waisted in the middle, convex in front and hollowed behind.Miller 2020, p. 260
- Vertebral archArcus vertebrae
- The two pedicles and two laminae that roof the spinal cord.Miller 2020, p. 260
- Spinous processProcessus spinosus
- The single blade on top, where the laminae meet.Miller 2020, p. 261
- Transverse processProcessus transversus
- The arm reaching sideways where the pedicle leaves the body.Miller 2020, p. 261
- Cranial vertebral notchIncisura vertebralis cranialis
- The shallow step in the front edge of the arch.Miller 2020, p. 261
- Caudal vertebral notchIncisura vertebralis caudalis
- The deep step behind it; the two notches of neighbouring vertebrae make the intervertebral foramen the spinal nerve leaves by.Miller 2020, p. 261
The members
In order along the set. Any one of them can be singled out in the model above, with the picker beneath it.
- Caudal vertebra IVertebra caudalis I
- Caudal vertebra IIVertebra caudalis II
- Caudal vertebra IIIVertebra caudalis III
- Caudal vertebra IVVertebra caudalis IV
- Caudal vertebra VVertebra caudalis V
- Caudal vertebra VIVertebra caudalis VI
- Caudal vertebra VIIVertebra caudalis VII
- Caudal vertebra VIIIVertebra caudalis VIII
- Caudal vertebra IXVertebra caudalis IX
- Caudal vertebra XVertebra caudalis X
- Caudal vertebra XIVertebra caudalis XI
- Caudal vertebra XIIVertebra caudalis XII
- Caudal vertebra XIIIVertebra caudalis XIII
- Caudal vertebra XIVVertebra caudalis XIV
- Caudal vertebra XVVertebra caudalis XV
- Caudal vertebra XVIVertebra caudalis XVI
- Caudal vertebra XVIIVertebra caudalis XVII
- Caudal vertebra XVIIIVertebra caudalis XVIII
References
Where to read this set in full, and where everything above was read.
- Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Caudal Vertebrae, PDF p. 287
- König & Liebich 2020vertebral column, p. 109
- Dyce 2017ch. 12 Neck, Back and Vertebral Column of the Dog and Cat, p. 390
- NAV 2017Osteologia