Illustrated Encyclopedia of Human Anatomic Variation: Opus I: Muscular System: Alphabetical Listing of Muscles: P

Panniculus Carnosus

Ronald A. Bergman, PhD
Adel K. Afifi, MD, MS
Ryosuke Miyauchi, MD
Peer Review Status: Internally Peer Reviewed

In lower mammals, a great sheet of muscle arises from the early pectoral muscle mass or group and spreads beyond this group. This sheet of muscle, the panniculus carnosus, regresses in higher primates and humans, and its functional significance is diminished since the arm is so free that almost any portion of the body surface may be reached by the hand. The panniculus is represented only by vestigal remnants. Remnants may be found where the pars abdominalis of pectoralis major and pectoralis minor come into close relationship. Hence, when found, remnants of the panniculus are seen as extra, independent, muscular slips from the abdominal aponeurosis which spreads forward on the rectus sheath, or are attached to the fascia over serratus anterior.

Other examples include separate bundles, all of which arise below pectoralis major to be inserted at various points, e.g., the axillary fascia or short of it, the pectoral ridge of the humerus behind the upper part of the pectoral tendon, the fascia between coracobrachialis and pectoralis minor, or the coracoid process.

Other slips may be attached to the fascia of serratus anterior. Still others, arising from the border of latissimus dorsi, extend to the fascia of the arm or pectoral insertion. In many cases, marginal slips of latissimus dorsi are bound up with tendinous remnants of the panniculus and so find secondary attachments to fascia, the humerus, or the coracoid process (costocoracoid muscle). The common variety of axillary arch is a fleshy slip of varying dimensions, often divided by a tendinous intersection, which extends from latissimus dorsi, in the axillary fascia, to pectoralis major, to the short head of biceps brachii, to coracobrachialis, to pectoralis quartus (if present), or the coracoid process.

See also Axillary Arch, Latissimus dorsi, and Pectoralis major. Another sheet of the panniculus, named dorsofascialis, has been reported in a position superficial to the trapezius muscle.

Sternalis.
from Calori.

Varieties of Sternalis Muscle.
from Turner, 1867.

References

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