Gross Morphological and Radiographic Studies on the Bones of the Shoulder and Arm in Indian Grey Mongoose or Asian Grey Mongoose (Herpestes edwardsii)

Abstract

The scapula of the Indian grey mongoose was a flat and trapezoid shaped bone with two surfaces, four borders and four angles. The scapular spine divided its lateral surface into two unequal fossae and terminated as a pointed hamate process, the latter presented a triangular suprahamate process whose apex was pointed and directed caudally. The glenoid cavity was shallow with a cranially projected supraglenoid tubercle that possessed medially a small indistinct coracoid process. The humerus was a long bone with a distinct spirally twisted shaft and two extremities. Its proximal extremity had an ovoid head, lesser tuberosity placed medial to the head and a greater tuberosity lateral to the head. The bicipital groove was wide and shallow. The musculospiral groove was deep. The proximal half of the shaft had a medially located pectoral ridge and a laterally situated prominent sharp deltoid crest. The distal end had two condyles, two epicondyles and two fossae, a cranially placed shallow coronoid fossa and caudally placed deep olecranon fossa. The two fossae communicated cranially through the supratrochlear foramen. A sharp prominent lateral epicondylar crest was present and above the medial epicondyle there was the oval supracondyloid foramen.