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Forelimb Morphology of Tree Shrews

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Flight of Mammals: From Terrestrial Limbs to Wings

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Abstract

The chapter includes three subchapters—Skeleton, Joints and Musculature, which describe, respectively, osteology, syndesmology and myology of the shoulder girdle and forelimb in Tupaia belangeri, one of the most generalized members of the order Scandentia. The original myological data are compared with those published by Le Gros Clark, Davis, Miller, Verma, George, Sargis, etc. on the other tree shrews, namely, Dendrogale murina, Ptilocercus lowii, Tupaia glis, Tupaia minor, Tupaia nicobarica, Tupaia tana and Urogale evereti. The description is supplied with 52 original illustrations—45 black-and-white drawings of myological dissections, 6 grayscale and 1 coloured photos of the skeleton.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Specimen ZMMU, no. s-173368.

  2. 2.

    Syndesmological preparation of skeleton is wet preparation obtained completely removing the musculature and retaining all articular ligaments. It is used for the study of mobility in the joints.

  3. 3.

    Specimen ZMMU, no. s-169721.

  4. 4.

    We use this term in descriptions of all animals.

  5. 5.

    The interspinous ligaments connect apices of neural spines of neighboring vertebrae.

  6. 6.

    In tupaias, the retinaculum extensorum (Fig. 1.37) is divided into two ligaments. A relatively small medial ligament forms a bridge on the medial side of the distal end of the radius and a wide lateral ligament passes across the dorsal side of the carpus from the medial side of the distal end of the radius to the lateral side of the distal end of the ulna and also to the pisiforme. The inner surface of the lateral ligament has fibrous septa which divide the space under it into several passages for the tendons of extensors of the manus and digits.

  7. 7.

    The retinaculum flexorum superficiale (Fig. 1.45) of tree shrews is a relatively thin transverse ligament, which connects the prepollex with the pisiforme.

  8. 8.

    The ligamentum palmaris profundum (Fig. 1.50, 1.51) covers the ventral surface of the carpals. It connects the pisiforme, ventral surface of the distal ends of the ulna and radius, and the prepollex with the ventral surface of the bases of the metacarpals.

  9. 9.

    The palmar surface of the manus of tree shrews has six pads (Fig. 1.38). Only the radial proximal (thenar) pad is supplied with the musculature.

  10. 10.

    The retinaculum flexorum profundum (Fig. 1.47) connects the ligament between the pisiforme and the base of the metacarpal V with the medial side of the distal end of the radius, scapholunatum, and dorsal side of rudimentary prepollex. It forms a sheath, which encloses tendons of the long flexors of digits. Its surface is also origin of certain short muscles of the manus.

  11. 11.

    The term aponeurosis flexoria communis designating a common tendinous plate of all the heads of the m. flexor digitorum profundus is introduced here for the first time for convenience.

  12. 12.

    The vaginae fibrosae digitorum are fibrous tunnels or sheaths on the ventral surface of the distal ends of the first phalanges of digits, which enclose tendons of the flexors.

  13. 13.

    The retinaculum flexorum medium (Fig. 1.46) is a wide palmar ligament connecting the lateral part of the retinaculum flexorum profundum with the lateral side of the lower surface of the prepollex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Morphological Adaptations of Vertebrates Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Aleksandra A. Panyutina

  2. Department of Vertebrate Zoology Biological Faculty, Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    Aleksandra A. Panyutina, Leonid P. Korzun & Alexander N. Kuznetsov

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  1. Aleksandra A. Panyutina
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  2. Leonid P. Korzun
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  3. Alexander N. Kuznetsov
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Correspondence to Aleksandra A. Panyutina .

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Panyutina, A., Korzun, L., Kuznetsov, A. (2015). Forelimb Morphology of Tree Shrews. In: Flight of Mammals: From Terrestrial Limbs to Wings. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08756-6_1

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