tailieunhanh - Gross anatomical studies on the cervical vertebrae of Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)

The present study was conducted on the cervical vertebrae of three adult emu birds. The vertebrae were 17 in number. The atlas was ring shaped, the body of the axis presented anteriorly, a triangular dens and short thick transverse processes laterally and whose root presented a large foramen transversarium. There was a gradual increase in the length of the body of cervical vertebrae from third to seventeenth. The anterior end of the bodies showed a transversely concave and dorso-ventrally convex articular surface, while the posterior end showed a reverse condition. The root of the transverse process except the atlas presented the foramen styloid processes were observed as bony spicules whose pointed free ends gradually reached the level of the posterior articular process. The dorsal spinous process was in the form of a small tubercle in the 3rd cervical vertebra which gradually increased in length towards the caudalof the series. The ventral spinous process was absent from 3rd to 17th cervical vertebrae. The cranial and caudal vertebral notches on the pedicel of the adjacent cervical vertebrae enclosed intervertebral foramen. | Gross anatomical studies on the cervical vertebrae of Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)