Ossicle synonyms

Perrier, at first laying greater stress on the nature of the pedicellariae and afterwards on the form of the mouth-skeleton, has gradually perfected a scheme of five orders: (I) Forcipulata, with pedicellariae stalked, and straight or crossed; (2) Spinulosa, with pedicellariae sessile and forcipiform; (3) Velata, with membraniferous spines; (4) Paxillosa, pedicellariae represented by an ossicle of the test and the spines covering it, the whole forming a paxilla; (5) Valvata or Granulosa, with pedicellariae sessile and valvular or salt-cellar shaped.

To allow the transmission of high frequency sounds, the stapes is used as an auditory ossicle.

If an x-ray shows an independent ossicle behind the main body of the tendon then surgical removal may be helpful after skeletal maturation.

In Colymbus the patella is reduced to a small ossicle, its function being taken by the greatly developed pyramidal processus tibialis anterior; in Podiceps and Hesperornis the patella itself is large and pyramidal.