Vetomica
Create free account

Dog · Set · Neck

The cervical vertebrae

Vertebrae cervicales

The seven bones of the neck. The first two are built for the head to nod and turn on; the other five are the run of the neck, and they are told apart by what their transverse processes do.

Region
Neck
Members
7
Own page
2
Named parts
8

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.

  • Seven, which is the C of the dog's vertebral formula C7 T13 L7 S3 Cd20.Miller 2020, p. 260
  • The first six carry a transverse foramen at the root of the transverse process, for the vertebral artery; the seventh has none.Miller 2020, p. 274
  • The part of a cervical transverse process below that foramen is a rib that has been taken into the bone.Miller 2020, p. 261
  • The sixth is marked out by broad plate-like ventral laminae, which reach down and out from the back of its transverse processes.Miller 2020, p. 274
  • The sixth has a taller spine than the third, fourth or fifth; the seventh carries the tallest spine in the neck.Miller 2020, p. 274
  • A costal element is usually free of the seventh on one side or both, and where cervical ribs occur they meet it there.Miller 2020, p. 261
  • Costal foveae sometimes appear on the seventh, and then the heads of the first pair of ribs articulate with it as well as with the first thoracic vertebra.Miller 2020, p. 274

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
Transverse foramenForamen transversarium
The hole through the root of the transverse process, on the first six only.Miller 2020, p. 261
Ventral laminaLamina ventralis
The plate hanging from the transverse process of the sixth, which is how that one is recognised.Miller 2020, p. 274

The members

In order along the set. Any one of them can be singled out in the model above, with the picker beneath it. The ones that are taught by name have a page of their own.

  • AtlasAtlasArticulates with the occipital condyles and the axis; wings palpableOwn page
  • AxisAxisDens projects into the atlas; long blade-like spinous processOwn page
  • Cervical vertebra 3Vertebra cervicalis III
  • Cervical vertebra 4Vertebra cervicalis IV
  • Cervical vertebra 5Vertebra cervicalis V
  • Cervical vertebra 6Vertebra cervicalis VI
  • Cervical vertebra 7Vertebra cervicalis VII

References

Where to read this set in full, and where everything above was read.

  • Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Cervical Vertebrae (atlas), 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
  • Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Cervical Vertebrae (axis), PDF p. 261
  • Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Cervical Vertebrae, PDF p. 261