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The anatomy of the bifurcated neural spine and its occurence within Tetrapoda
Author(s) -
Woodruff D. Cary
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.20314
Subject(s) - spine (molecular biology) , biology , anatomy , cover (algebra) , spinal column , vertebral column , bifurcation , breed , zoology , bioinformatics , medicine , physics , surgery , nonlinear system , mechanical engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering
Cover illustration . Vertebral neural spine bifurcation is considered to be restricted to sauropodomorph dinosaurs, supposedly an adaptation in response to the increasing weight from the horizontally extended cervical column. In this issue of the Journal of Morphology, Cary Woodruff (pp. 1053–1065 10.1002/jmor.20283 ) reports about his studies on the soft tissue surrounding neural spine bifurcation in a terrestrial quadruped model species, Ankole‐Watusi cattle. With horns weighing up to a combined 90 kg, the Ankole‐Watusi is unlike any other breed of cattle in terms of cranial weight and presence of neural spine bifurcation. The cover image shows the world record holding Ankole‐Watusi steer “Lurch”. The circumference of Lurch's horns are 95.25 cm, and from tip‐to‐tip the horns are nearly 243 cm in breadth. Image courtesy T. Dobbs.