Rabbit : Typical vertebra

• A third lumbar vertebrae is the largest of all vertebrae, with all parts well developed. So it is taken as typical vertebra of rabbit.

• Its centrum is amphiplatyan or acoelous.

• Produced from the centrum is the neural arch, they enclose the neural canal.

• At the base of the neural arch is a pair of notches, one in the front and the other behind. They are called invertebral notches.

• When adjacent vertebrae closely articulate, their notches come close together and form intervertebral foramina for the passage of spinal nerves.

• Neural arch bears a median neural spine, a pair of lateral transverse process and paired articular processes called pre and post zygapophyses.

• Metapophysis are seen just behind pre – zygapophyses.