Development of the Lacrimal Apparatus in the Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and Its Potential Role as an Animal Model for Humans

Table 4

Summary of posterior part of the NLD.

	Rabbit (this study + [5])	Primate [16, 24]	Other mammals [3]	Reptiles and basal amniotes [32, 33, 35, 36]
Number of canaliculi	1	1 (Cynomolgus monkey); 2 (human)	2	2
Associated bones	Maxilla, maxilloturbinal and lacrimal enclose the NLD	Maxilla and lacrimal enclose the NLD. Added inferior concha in humans covers the ventromedial aspect of the NLD when it opens into the nasal cavity proper.	Lacrimal only encloses the posterior aspect of the NLD. The maxilla forms only the lateral wall. No mention of maxilloturbinal.	Lacrimal encloses the NLD, the maxilla only forms the lateral wall. In basal amniotes, the septomaxilla in basal amniotes encloses the anterior portion of the NLD. Maxilloturbinals are absent.