The Tail End of Things: Comparative muscular morphology and function of mammalian tails

Mammalian tails have diversified alongside changes in locomotion as mammals radiated into the world’s terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial environments.  However, the intricate and challenging anatomy of the muscles and tendons comprising the tail has rendered this section of the axial skeleton relatively unexplored.  Our survey of tail muscular anatomy collected from dissections and diceCT scans in a phylogenetically diverse sample of mammals has found that caudal musculature is organized into longitudinal tracts that include bilateral dorsal and ventral tracts of intrinsic muscles as well as dorsolateral and ventrolateral tracts of extrinsic muscles.  Anatomical data collected from the dissection of unfixed specimens revealed an unusual morphology for these extrinsic muscles as a sheet of fused muscle segments with associated tendons that span multiple joints to effect movement of distal caudal vertebrae.  We noted diversity in relative tail length, number of caudal vertebrae, relative integration of the caudal and hindlimb musculature, relative size and shape of the extrinsic musculature, and tendon branching patterns.  In addition, we introduce preliminary data from material testing of tendons and physical models to understand the biomechanics of this unconventional muscle-tendon system as a foundation towards building form-function relationships across mammal clades and locomotory types.

@inproceedings{miyamae2024tail,
  title={The Tail End of Things: Comparative muscular morphology and function of mammalian tails},
  author={Miyamae, Juri and Moore, Talia},
  booktitle={INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY},
  volume={64},
  pages={S353--S353},
  year={2024},
  organization={OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC JOURNALS DEPT, 2001 EVANS RD, CARY, NC 27513 USA}
}