Revision of the morphology of longissimus capitis, longissimus atlantis, longissimus cervicis, and the cranial part of longissimus thoracis in the domestic goat (Capra hircus): a cadaveric study

Abstract

Veterinary anatomical texts have generally described the longissimus muscle only in terms of its attachment in the ox as the basic species and have not thoroughly addressed its morphology in small ruminants. Hence, the present study was designed to present the anatomical features of longissimus capitis, longissimus atlantis, longissimus cervicis, and the cranial part of longissimus thoracis of domestic goats by comparing them with the existing descriptions of these muscles in the ox. Bilateral dissections of the neck and the cranial thoracic regions of 10 domestic adult goats of both sexes were carried out. The longissimus capitis and longissimus atlantis consisted of about 5 muscle slips originating from the articular processes of C3–C7 (including their bony ridges) or T1 and the transverse process of T2. In 7 (37%) of the 19 muscles dissected, the last slips in the longissimus capitis and longissimus atlantis or in one of them showed no attachment to the vertebrae. Rather, the thoracolumbar fascia in the cranial part of the thoracic region, the cranial edge or the deep face of longissimus thoracis, and the deep face of longissimus cervicis served as the origins of the muscles. The attachment sites of the longissimus cervicis and the cranial part of the longissimus thoracis in the goat demonstrated no remarkable differences with those of the ox. Whether the attachment sites of these variants should be considered as normal or anomalous needs to be evaluated with a larger number of animals of different breeds.