The transverse processes (la. processus transversus) of a vertebra, two in number, project one at either side from the point where the lamina joins the pedicle, between the superior and inferior articular processes. They serve for the attachment of muscles and ligaments.
The transverse processes of the dorsal vertebrae typically articulate with the head and tubercle of the respective rib.
The transverse process of a lumbar vertebra is also called costal or costiform process (processus costiforme or processus costalis in latin) by some anatomists, because it corresponds to a rudimentary rib (costa) which, as opposed to the thorax, is not developed in the lumbar region.
Read more about Transverse Processes: Additional Images
Famous quotes containing the word processes:
“The vast results obtained by Science are won by no mystical faculties, by no mental processes other than those which are practiced by every one of us, in the humblest and meanest affairs of life. A detective policeman discovers a burglar from the marks made by his shoe, by a mental process identical with that by which Cuvier restored the extinct animals of Montmartre from fragments of their bones.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)