Preferred Label : scleral ossicle;
Uberon definition : A bony plate around the eyes, are situated at the corneal-scleral limbus. They do
not articulate with other elements of the skull. Typically, the scleral ossicles overlap
the rim of a cup of scleral cartilage that supports the eyeball. Situated near the
equator of the eye and may slightly overlap the rim of scleral cartilage.;
Uberon synonym : sclerotic ossicle; sclerotic bone;
Uberon Function note : The function of these elements is to support the eye from within the sclera; scleral
ossicles play an additional important role during accommodation in terrestrial vertebrates
(Lemmrich, 1931; Walls, 1942; King and McLelland, 1984).;
Uberon Taxon note : The distribution of scleral ossicles and scleral cartilage among verte- brate taxa
is not the same. Some taxa (e.g., birds) have both elements; some only have one element
(e.g., crocodiles only have a scleral cartilage); while others (e.g., snakes) have
neither element (Walls, 1942) number of ossicles making up the sclerotic ring as well
as the shape of both the individual plates and the sclerotic ring is variable among
tetrapod taxa.... It is therefore extremely likely that scleral skeletal elements
(ossicles and cartilage) of all rep- tiles (including birds) are homologous (but cannot
be assumed for reptiles and teleosts);
Origin ID : 0010290;
Automatic exact mappings (from CISMeF team)
- Uberon cross reference
- part of
A bony plate around the eyes, are situated at the corneal-scleral limbus. They do
not articulate with other elements of the skull. Typically, the scleral ossicles overlap
the rim of a cup of scleral cartilage that supports the eyeball. Situated near the
equator of the eye and may slightly overlap the rim of scleral cartilage.
