Image: Distal-phalanges-thumb-index Journal.pone.0011727.g001

Description: Modern human thumb and index finger (right hand) during pad-to-pad precision grasping in ulnar view. The box shows the anatomy of the pollical distal phalanx and its relationship with soft structures related to refined manipulation: a huge proximopalmar fossa (orange), associated with a palmarly protruding ridge (red) for insertion of the flexor pollicis longus; a compartmentalized digital pulp to accommodate the shape of the object being manipulated; this is reflected in the presence of an ungual fossa (green), associated to the large and mobile proximal pulp, as well as a wide apical tuberosity associated with the smaller and less mobile distal pulp; and finally, the ungual spines (yellow), where the collateral intraosseous ligaments that sustain the nail bed insert.
Title: Distal-phalanges-thumb-index Journal.pone.0011727.g001
Credit: Almécija S, Moyà-Solà S, Alba DM (2010) Early Origin for Human-Like Precision Grasping: A Comparative Study of Pollical Distal Phalanges in Fossil Hominins. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11727. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011727
Author: Almécija, Moyà-Solà & Alba
Permission: "2010 Almécija et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited."
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