Terminology Service for NFDI4Health
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nictitating membrane

Go to external page http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0010207

A fold of the mucous membrane of the conjunctiva in many animals. At rest, it is hidden in the medial canthus. It can extend to cover part or all of the cornea to help clean the cornea. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nictitating_membrane ]

Term info

Label

nictitating membrane

Synonyms
  • membrana nictitans
  • nictitans
  • palperbra tertia
  • third eyelid
database cross reference
Subsets

pheno_slim

editor note

We exclude the shark structure for this via a taxon constraint.

id

UBERON:0010207

present in taxon

http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9709, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_8292, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9632, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_261739, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9835, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_9816, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/NCBITaxon_8782

taxon notes

The Calabar angwantibo (Arctocebus calabarensis, a lorisoid) is the only primate to have a functioning nictitating membrane[Wikipedia:Calabar_angwantibo], Some reptiles, birds, and sharks have full nictitating membranes; in many mammals, a small, vestigial portion of the membrane remains in the corner of the eye. Some mammals, such as camels, polar bears, seals, and aardvarks, have full nictitating membranes. fully developed nictitating membranes can be found in lemurs and lorisoid primates., in mice, the nictitating membrane is very small and composed of a very thin core of cartilage covered by loose connective tissue, In most primate species, a plica semilunaris is present, although fully developed nictitating membranes can be found in lemurs and lorisoid primates[Wikipedia:Nictitating_membrane]

Term relations

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