An ungual of the ground sloth Eremotherium

An ungual (from Latin unguis, i.e. nail) is a highly modified distal toe bone which ends in a hoof, claw, or nail. Elephants and ungulates have ungual phalanges, as did the sauropods and horned dinosaurs. A claw is a highly modified ungual phalanx.

As an adjective, ungual means related to nail, as in periungual (around the nail).[1]

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.