Pectineus at a glance
- What it is
- A flat quadrangular muscle at the top of the medial thigh forming part of the floor of the femoral triangle.
- Location
- Originates from the pecten pubis of the superior pubic ramus and inserts onto the pectineal line of the femur, running from the lesser trochanter toward the linea aspera.
- Function
- Flexes and adducts the thigh at the hip.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22450 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: femoral nerve (L2–L3); often also obturator or accessory obturator nerve
- Blood supply: medial circumflex femoral and obturator arteries
Clinical relevance
Has a dual nerve supply, reflecting its position between the anterior and medial thigh compartments.
Structures next to the pectineus
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Deferent duct · reproductive
- Adductor brevis · muscular
- Obturator externus · muscular
- Dorsal artery of penis · cardiovascular
- Lateral circumflex femoral artery · cardiovascular
- Corpus cavernosum of penis · reproductive
- Corpus spongiosum of penis · reproductive
- Urethra · urinary
- Obturator internus · muscular
- Epididymis · reproductive
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Pectineus (FMA22450). 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.