‖ prehallux, præ- Anat. and Zool.
(priːˈhæləks)
[mod.L., f. præ, pre- B. 3 + hallux. Named 1885 by Bardeleben of Jena.]
A rudimentary structure, osseous or cartilaginous, found on the inner side of the tarsus of some Mammalia, Reptilia, and Batrachia, and supposed to represent an additional digit.
| 1888 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 150 That the pre-hallux takes on certain of the essential relationships of a digit is beyond dispute. That it really represents one is another question. 1889 Athenæum 18 May 635/3 Prof. Bardeleben [sent a paper] on the præpollex and præhallux of the mammalian skeleton... He also stated that he had discovered vestiges of the præhallux and præpollex in certain Reptilia. 1891 Flower & Lydekker Mammalia ii. 49 In the posterior limb the tibial sesamoid, and a fibular ossification corresponding to the pisiform, are regarded as representing a prehallux and a postminimus. |