Levatores costarum longi at a glance
- What it is
- Longer slips of the levatores costarum on the lower thoracic back.
- Location
- Arise from the transverse processes of the lower thoracic vertebrae and insert onto the second rib below.
- Function
- Elevate the ribs and assist lateral flexion and rotation of the spine.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA74075 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: dorsal rami of thoracic spinal nerves
- Each long levator skips one rib, so it spans two segments, unlike the short levators which reach only the rib directly below.
Structures next to the levatores costarum longi
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Levatores costarum breves · muscular
- Iliocostalis thoracis · muscular
- Inferior pulmonary vein · cardiovascular
- Semispinalis thoracis · muscular
- Thoracic rotator · muscular
- Seventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Descending thoracic aorta · cardiovascular
- Intervertebral disk of sixth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Intervertebral disk of seventh thoracic vertebra · skeletal
- Sixth thoracic vertebra · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Levatores costarum longi (FMA74075). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.