but part of the cervix and vagina as well. This was hypothesized by Komisaruk et al. (1997), based on the fact that some women with complete spinal cord injuries (‘complete’ here meaning ‘spinal cord cut all the way through’)
Before we go on, that list is by no means exhaustive. It is the product of long familiarity but not of long intentional thought; it’s literally the stuff that I thought of on the fly while composing this post. I could probably make it four times longer if I wanted to spend a day ...
Bone vs joint space in the proximal caudals of the SnowmassHaplocanthosaurus. I’d give one non-essential organ to dissect that tail! And after the respiratory system, next up for me would be the spinal cord and any related morphological specializations of the neural canal — see Table 3 ...
the transition through the last few cervicals to the first few dorsals is gradual — the vertebrae become shorter, taller and broader — and tends to have no very obvious break point. In this respect, they differ from mammals, in which the regional differentiation of the spinal column is mo...
Pigeon spinal cord cross-section, from Necker (2006: fig. 4). More recently, when I started working with Jessie Atterholt on weird neural canal stuff in dinosaurs, I realized that I needed to know more aboutglycogen bodiesin birds, and about bird spinal cords generally. I expected that to...
Last but not least there aredenticulate ligaments, little sideways extensions of the pia mater that anchor the spinal cord to the inside of the dura mater. I drew them in pink in the diagram, but in dissection they are shiny white or silver; ‘denticulate’ means ‘little tooth’. ...
with interneurons in the brainstem, a pattern of neural architecture that is present in all extant vertebrates. The nerve cell bodies would have been located in the dorsal root ganglia adjacent to the spinal cord. The diagram of the neuron is based on Butler and Hodos (1996: fig. 2–1B)...
Early in ontogenly, the blood supply to vertebrae comes from arteries that initially served the spinal cord, penetrating the bone of the neural canal. Later in ontegeny, additional arteries penetrate the centra, leaving vascular foramina (small holes carrying blood vessels). ...
does not leave a distinct osteological trace. Yellow arrows show the longitudinal troughs in the ventral floor of the neural canal that house the ventral eminences of the spinal cord. Wedel et al. (2021: fig. 4). I have a ton of people to thank. John Foster, obviously, for initiating...
One of the curious things about Sauropods is that they did have a swelling in the spinal cord, in the neighborhood of their pelvis. This was sort of like a second brain to help control the back half of the body. There it is in black and white. I was very clearly explaining why a ...