An amorphus globosus (from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: ''αμορφή (amorphē) 'formless' and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

globus GLOBUS is a radar system in the town of Vardø in Vardø Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway. It is operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) and its official uses are primarily space observation and Arctic airspace monitoring for Nor ...

'sphere')'', also known as a globosus amorphus, or an amorphous globosus monster, is a

malformation A birth defect is an abnormal condition that is present at birth, regardless of its cause. Birth defects may result in disabilities that may be physical, intellectual, or developmental. The disabilities can range from mild to severe. Birth de ...

occurring in

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, medical diagnosis, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all a ...

, especially in

domestic cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, Domestication of vertebrates, domesticated, Bovidae, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos ...

. Instead of a normally developed

fetus A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic development, embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Pren ...

, it results in the formation of a more or less spherical structure covered with hairy skin, which contains parts of all three

germ layer A germ layer is a primary layer of cell (biology), cells that forms during embryonic development. The three germ layers in vertebrates are particularly pronounced; however, all eumetazoans (animals that are sister taxa to the sponges) produce tw ...

s; the differentiation of its contents can vary greatly. An amorphus globosus is not viable due to the lack of functional

organs In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...

Origin

The teratological reasons for the development of amorphus globosus are not fully understood, but it is believed that the malformation is generally associated with twin gestation, in which one

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

does not develop normally. In two cases, the

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is discerned by de ...

of the amorphus was identical to its normally developing twin, while in another case, the karyotype deviated from the normal twin, so an emergence from fraternal twins also seems possible.

Distribution

Amorphus globosus is more common in

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

than generally assumed.M. T. Anwar, A. I. Khan, S. Balasubramanian, R. Jayaprakash, T. A. Kannan, S. Manokaran, S. A. Asokan, C. Veerapandian: ''A rare case of globosus amorphus in a goat.'' In: ''The Canadian veterinary journal. La revue vétérinaire canadienne.'' Band 50, Nummer 8, August 2009, S. 854–856, . PMID 19881925. . It occurs most commonly in cattle, but there are also

case report In medicine, a case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports may contain a demographic profile of the patient, but usually describe an unusual or novel occurrenc ...

s in

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...

s and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s. A case of amorphus globosus has also been described in

human medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

, where it was also a twin pregnancy.T. Maggiora-Vergano, G. Gentile: '' case of amorphous twin: holocardius amorphous globosus'' In: ''La Clinica ostetrica e ginecologica.'' Band 56, Nummer 4, August 1954, S. 235–244, . PMID 13231331.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Image of an amorphus globosus in cattle
on website of

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Animal developmental biology Livestock Cattle Veterinary medicine

Origin

Distribution

See also

References

External links