Note

Cephalopoda: Origin of the Term Occipital Region

Richard E. Young, Michael Vecchione, and Katharina M. Mangold (1922-2003)
Cephalopoda Glossary Occipital Region Terminology

Richard E. Young, Michael Vecchione and Katharina Mangold

Structures on the back of the head are known by a variety of names. The transverse ridge that extends from one side of the funnel groove around the back of the head to the other side of the funnel groove is known as the olfactory crest (e.g., Williams, 1909) due to the nearby postion of the olfactory organ, the anterior transverse fold of the neck (Naef, 1921-23), and the nuchal crest (e.g., Young, 1972) but with little present consensus. However none of these terms is appropriate. The olfactory organ is a small structure that is not on the crest; cephalopods have no true neck and the nuchal region is only the posterodorsal region of the head. As a result, we propose here the term occipital region for the back of the head and occipital crest, occipital folds (often called neck folds or nuchal folds or olfactory folds) and occipital membrane (= anterior transverse fold of the neck) for structures located in this region. According to the Random House Dictionary of the English language, occiput is the back of the head or skull. Thus, we are borrowing from vertebrate terminology.

References

Naef, A. 1921-23. Cephalopoda. Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel. Monograph, no. 35. English translation: A. Mercado (1972). Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd., Jerusalem, Israel. 863pp., IPST Cat. No. 5110/1,2.

Williams, L. W. 1909. The anatomy of the common squid Loligo pealii, Lesueur. E. J. Brill, Leiden. 92pp., 3 pl.

Young, R. E. 1972. The systematics and areal distribution of pelagic cephalopods from the seas off Southern California. Smithson. Contr. Zool., 97: 1-159.

About This Page


University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA


National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D. C. , USA

Katharina M. Mangold (1922-2003)
Laboratoire Arago, Banyuls-Sur-Mer, France

Page: Tree of Life Cephalopoda: Origin of the Term Occipital Region Authored by Richard E. Young, Michael Vecchione, and Katharina M. Mangold (1922-2003). The TEXT of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License - Version 3.0. Note that images and other media featured on this page are each governed by their own license, and they may or may not be available for reuse. Click on an image or a media link to access the media data window, which provides the relevant licensing information. For the general terms and conditions of ToL material reuse and redistribution, please see the Tree of Life Copyright Policies.

close box

This page is a note that is attached to a branch of the Tree of Life.

ToL notes provide brief accounts of characteristics, short summaries, commentaries, media files, taxonomic information, or identification tools for a given group of organisms.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Cephalopoda

Page Content

articles & notes

Treehouses

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top