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The parietal eye is a part of the epithalamus, which can be divided into two major parts—the epiphysis (the pineal organ; or the pineal gland, if it is mostly endocrine) and the parapineal organ (often called the parietal eye or, if it is photoreceptive, the third eye). The structures arise as a single anterior evagination of the pineal organ ...
It is the vestigial remnant of the nictitating membrane (the "third eyelid") which is drawn across the eye for protection, and is present in other animals such as birds, reptiles, and fish, but is rare in mammals, mainly found in monotremes and marsupials. [2] Its associated muscles are also vestigial. [3]
In humans, the vermiform appendix is sometimes called a vestigial structure as it has lost much of its ancestral digestive function.. Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. [1]
Arrows show the vestigial structure called Darwin's tubercle. In the context of human evolution, vestigiality involves those traits occurring in humans that have lost all or most of their original function through evolution. Although structures called vestigial often appear functionless, they may retain lesser functions or develop minor new ones.
X-ray showing the skeleton of Typhlonectes (Typhlonectidae). Caecilians' anatomy is highly adapted for a burrowing lifestyle. In a couple of species belonging to the primitive genus Ichthyophis vestigial traces of limbs have been found, and in Typhlonectes compressicauda the presence of limb buds has been observed during embryonic development, remnants in an otherwise completely limbless body. [7]
Remnant eyes (and eye structures) in animals that have lost sight such as blind cavefish (e.g. Astyanax mexicanus), [88] mole rats, snakes, spiders, salamanders, shrimp, crayfish, and beetles. [89] [90] Vestigial eye in the extant Rhineura floridana and remnant jugal in the extinct Rhineura hatchery (reclassified as Protorhineura hatcherii ...
The macula (/ˈmakjʊlə/) [1] or macula lutea is an oval-shaped pigmented area in the center of the retina of the human eye and in other animals. The macula in humans has a diameter of around 5.5 mm (0.22 in) and is subdivided into the umbo, foveola, foveal avascular zone, fovea, parafovea, and perifovea areas.
In 1886, he described an eye-like structure, which he called the pineal eye or parietal eye, that was associated with the parietal foramen and the pineal stalk. [77] The presence of a pineal body was already discovered by German zoologist Franz Leydig in 1872, in European lizards. Leydig called them the "frontal organ" (German stirnorgan).