Where it is
From the forehead and the nasal bones, past the orbit, to the upper lip and the wing of the nostril.
- Layer
- Muscles
- System
- Facial muscles
- Region
- Head
What it is and what it does
The levator nasolabialis starts broadly from the frontal and nasal bones, in the dog also from the upper edge of the maxilla, and runs down under the skin to the upper lip and the wing of the nostril. It lifts the upper lip, pulling it laterally, and pulls on the wing of the nostril. In carnivores it is very broad and without clear limits. Its motor nerve is the dorsal buccal branch of the facial nerve.
Worth remembering
There are no “special” nasal muscles in the dog, according to Sisson; the nostril moves through this muscle and through the levator of the upper lip.
Names
- Latin term: m. levator nasolabialis.
- In Romanian: Ridicătorul nazolabial (Romanian page).
In the atlas lessons
The head: what you see, what is underneath (6 min):
Switch to “Muscles”: the levator nasolabialis runs down from the forehead to the lip and the wing of the nostril; the buccinator fills the cheek; the orbicularis muscles close the mouth and the eye; the digastricus opens the mouth.