Shaggy bone ( Latin ossa marsupialia ) - a pair of bones connected to the front edge of the pelvis and directed to the free ends forward. They are found in echidnas (from monotremes ) and in marsupials . In some of the latter, they are rudimentary and are represented by fibrous cartilage (in the marsupial wolf, Thylacinus cynocephalus , in the marsupial mole, Notoryctes ). In some higher mammals, the marsupial bones are represented by small cartilage masses, occupying the same position in relation to the musculature as the marsupial bones (for example, according to Huxley in a dog, they are cartilage lying in the pupart ligament). In amphibians and reptiles, the marsupial bones are represented by a cartilage, often forked apart at the front end and lying in front of the pubic fusion . This cartilage, as lying in front of the pubic bone — os pubis — is called os epipubis or cartilago epipubica, or in cases where it is a simple process of pelvic cartilage (for example, in the Polypterus multipaper ), processus epipubicus .
Literature
- Shimkevich, V.M., Marsupial Bones // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 tons (82 tons and 4 extras). - SPb. , 1890-1907.