Anatomical Description of the Liver, Hepatic Ligaments and Omenta in the Coypu (Myocastor coypus)

The objective of this work is to give a complementary description of the hepatic lobulation, the hepatic ligaments and the omenta of the nutria. Thirty nutrias were studied by gross dissection. The liver of the nutria was divided into six lobules as follows: left lateral, left medial, quadrate, right medial, right lateral, and caudate lobes. The caudate lobe was divided into a papillary and a caudate process. A whole falciform ligament, extending as far as the navel, was found in all animals. This one was the only ligament that contained fat in between its sheets, and it was abundant in the umbilical part. The left triangular ligament had two parts. One of them was attached to the left lateral lobe of the liver and the other one to the left medial lobe. The right triangular ligament also was double. The lateral triangular ligaments where larger than the medial ones. The hepatorenal ligament it was attached to the right kidney and its ventral free border measured 3.0 cm. The coronary ligament was always relatively well marked and was continuous with all the previous ligaments. The omenta were similar to those described for the rabbit but had more fat. The greater omentum united with the left sheet of the mesoduodenum and to the ascending mesocolon.