The phalanges of the forepaw

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.

• Each of the four main digits has three phalanges; the first digit has two.Miller 2020, p. 330
• Every phalanx is read the same way: a base at the top, a body, and a head below.Miller 2020, p. 330
• A middle phalanx is about a third shorter than the proximal phalanx it meets.Miller 2020, p. 330
• The base of a middle phalanx carries a smaller sagittal ridge, lower tubercles and a shallower groove than a proximal one.Miller 2020, p. 330
• The distal phalanx is about the same size in all four main digits, and smaller in the first.Miller 2020, p. 330
• A broad low tubercle on the underside of the distal phalanx takes one of the five slips the deep digital flexor divides into, and a vascular canal pierces the bone to either side of it.Miller 2020, p. 330
• Two sesamoid bones lie behind each main metacarpophalangeal joint, in the tendons of the interossei; the first digit has a single bead.Miller 2020, p. 331

Named parts

What a member of this set carries, and what each part is called in the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria.

BaseBasis

The upper end, which takes the bone above it.Miller 2020, p. 330

BodyCorpus

The shaft between the two ends.Miller 2020, p. 330

HeadCaput

The lower end, which carries the bone below it.Miller 2020, p. 330

The members

In order along the set. Any one of them can be singled out in the model above, with the picker beneath it.

• Proximal phalanx of digit IPhalanx proximalis digiti I
• Distal phalanx of digit IPhalanx distalis digiti I
• Proximal phalanx, digit 2Phalanx proximalis digiti II
• Middle phalanx, digit 2Phalanx media digiti II
• Distal phalanx, digit 2Phalanx distalis digiti II
• Proximal phalanx, digit 3Phalanx proximalis digiti III
• Middle phalanx, digit 3Phalanx media digiti III
• Distal phalanx, digit 3Phalanx distalis digiti III
• Proximal phalanx, digit 4Phalanx proximalis digiti IV
• Middle phalanx, digit 4Phalanx media digiti IV
• Distal phalanx, digit 4Phalanx distalis digiti IV
• Proximal phalanx, digit 5Phalanx proximalis digiti V
• Middle phalanx, digit 5Phalanx media digiti V
• Distal phalanx, digit 5Phalanx distalis digiti V

References

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

• Miller 2020Miller 2020, ch. 4 The Skeleton, Phalanges, PDF p. 329
• König & Liebich 2020skeleton of the thoracic limb, p. 171-184
• Dyce 2017ch. 16 Forelimb of the Dog and Cat, p. 464 (clavicle p. 69)
• NAV 2017Osteologia