Polymelia is a
birth defect
A birth defect, also known as a congenital disorder, 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 ...
in which an affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs. It is a type of
dysmelia
Dysmelia (from the Greek (), "bad" + (), "limb" + English suffix -ia) is a congenital disorder of a limb resulting from a disturbance in embryonic development.(2006) Dysmelia (Limb Deficiency/Reduction). pp 312-322. In: Atlas of Genetic Diagnosi ...
. In humans and most land-dwelling vertebrates, this means having five or more limbs. The extra limb is most commonly shrunken and/or deformed. The term is from Greek πολυ- "many", μέλεα "limbs".
Sometimes an embryo started as
conjoined twins
Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...
, but one twin degenerated completely except for one or more limbs, which end up attached to the other twin.
Sometimes small extra legs between the normal legs are caused by the body axis forking in the
dipygus
Dipygus is a severe congenital deformity where the body axis forks left and right partway along the torso with the posterior end ( pelvis and legs) duplicated.
Myrtle Corbin was a dipygus; she married and had five children. In human cases, the ...
condition.
Notomelia (from Greek for "back-limb-condition") is polymelia where the extra limb is rooted along or near the midline of the back. Notomelia has been reported in
Angus
Angus may refer to:
Media
* ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film
* ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record''
Places Australia
* Angus, New South Wales
Canada
* Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario
* East Angus, Quebec
Scotland
* An ...
cattle often enough to be of concern to farmers.
Cephalomelia (from Greek for "head-limb-condition") is polymelia where the extra limb is rooted on the head.
Origin
Tetrapod
Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...
legs evolved in the
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
or
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
geological period from the
pectoral fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...
s and
pelvic fin
Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods.
Structure and function Structure
In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...
s of their
crossopterygian
Sarcopterygii (; ) — sometimes considered synonymous with Crossopterygii () — is a taxon (traditionally a class or subclass) of the bony fishes known as the lobe-finned fishes. The group Tetrapoda, a mostly terrestrial superclass includin ...
fish ancestors.
Fish fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as see ...
s develop along a "fin line", which runs from the back of the head along the midline of the back, round the end of the tail, and forwards along the underside of the tail, and at the
cloaca
In animal anatomy, a cloaca ( ), plural cloacae ( or ), is the posterior orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles and birds, a ...
splits into left and right fin lines which run forwards to the gills. In the paired ventral part of the fin line, normally only the pectoral and pelvic fins survive (but the
Devonian
The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
acanthodian
Acanthodii or acanthodians is an extinct class of gnathostomes (jawed fishes), typically considered a paraphyletic group. They are currently considered to represent a grade of various fish lineages leading up to the extant Chondrichthyes, which ...
fish ''
Mesacanthus'' developed a third pair of paired fins); but along the non-paired parts of the fin line,
other fins develop.
In
tetrapod
Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...
s, only the four paired fins normally persisted, and became the four legs. Notomelia and cephalomelia are
atavistic
In biology, an atavism is a modification of a biological structure whereby an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations. Atavisms can occur in several ways; one of which is when ...
reappearances of
dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
s. Some other cases of polymelia are extra development along the paired part of the fin lines, or along the ventral posterior non-paired part of the fin line.
Notable cases
Humans
![Female child with polymelia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Female_child_with_polymelia.jpg)
*1995:
Somali baby girl born with three right arms.
*In the summer of 2005, a baby girl named Destiny was born with a fully formed extra leg in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
. This was the result of a
conjoined twin
Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...
scenario.
*In March 2006, a baby boy identified only as
Jie-jie was born in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
with a fully formed third arm: he had two full-sized left arms, one ventral to the other. This is the only documented case of a child born with a fully formed supernumerary arm. It is an example of an extra limb on a normal body axis.
* In July 2007 a child was born with four legs at the
Lebowakgomo
Lebowakgomo is the seat of the Lepelle-Nkumpi Local Municipality and was the capital of the former Bantustan of Lebowa. Lebowakgomo lies 45 km southeast of the Limpopo capital of Polokwane. The majority of Lebowakgomo's inhabitants speak Se ...
hospital outside
(South Africa)
* On November 6, 2007, doctors at Bangalore's Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India successfully completed surgery on a two-year-old girl named
Lakshmi Tatma
Lakshmi Tatma is an Indian girl born in 2005 in a village in Araria district, Bihar, with "4 arms and 4 legs." She was actually one of a pair of ischiopagus conjoined twins, one of which was headless because its head had atrophied and chest ha ...
who was born with four arms and four legs; this was not true polymelia but a case of
ischiopagus
Ischiopagi comes from the Greek word ''ischio-'' meaning hip (ilium) and ''-pagus'' meaning fixed or united. It is the medical term used for conjoined twins (Class V) who are united at the pelvis. The twins are classically joined with the vertebra ...
Siamese twin
Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence ...
ning where one twin's head had disappeared during development.
*
Frank Lentini
Francesco "Frank" Lentini (May 18, 1889 − September 21, 1966) was an Italian-American sideshow performer who toured with numerous circuses. Born with a parasitic twin, Lentini had three legs.
Early life
Lentini was born at 8 Gintoli Street, Ros ...
had a third leg, as well as a fourth foot and two sets of genitals.
*A boy named Gaurav, born in
Tanahun district in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
with an extra arm growing out of his upper back between his
shoulder blade
The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on either ...
s, two years ago was published on 2016.
Other animals
![Deformed steer (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Deformed_steer_%281%29.JPG)
*A four-legged
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
was born at Brendle Farms in
Somerset, Pennsylvania
Somerset is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 6,046 at the 2020 census. The borough is surrounded by Somerset Township, Som ...
, in 2005. The story was carried on the major TV network news programs and ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
''. The bird was found living normally among the rest of the chickens after 18 months. She was adopted and named Henrietta by the farm owner's 13-year-old daughter, Ashley, who refuses to sell the chicken. The second (hind) legs are fully formed but non-functional.
*Four-legged
duck
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...
s are occasionally hatched, such as 'Stumpy', an individual born in February 2007 on a farm in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
*
Frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
s in the US sometimes are affected by polymelia when attacked in the
tadpole
A tadpole is the larval stage in the biological life cycle of an amphibian. Most tadpoles are fully aquatic, though some species of amphibians have tadpoles that are terrestrial. Tadpoles have some fish-like features that may not be found i ...
stage by the ''
Ribeiroia
''Ribeiroia'' () is a genus of trematode parasites that sequentially infect freshwater snails in the family Planorbidae (ramshorn snails) as first intermediate hosts, fish and larval amphibians as second intermediate hosts, and birds and mammals ...
'' parasite.
*A puppy, known as Lilly, was born in the United States with a fully formed fifth leg jutting out between her hind legs. She was initially set to be sold to a freak show, but was instead bought by a dog lover who had the extra leg removed.
*
*An eight-legged lamb has been reported on at least two occasions including in 1898 and 2018.
In mythology
Many mythological creatures like
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
s,
winged horse
The following is a list of fictional or mythological winged horses.
Mythology
*The ancient Pegasus is a mythological winged horse.
*The Hippalectryon is a half-horse, half-rooster hybrid depicted in ancient Greek art.
*Devadatta is the win ...
s, and
griffin
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon (Ancient Greek: , ''gryps''; Classical Latin: ''grȳps'' or ''grȳpus''; Late Latin, Late and Medieval Latin: ''gryphes'', ''grypho'' etc.; Old French: ''griffon'') is a legendary creature with the body, tail ...
s have six limbs: four legs and two wings. The dragon's science is discussed in ''
Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real''.
In
Greek Mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
:
*The
Hekatonkheires
In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires ( grc-gre, Ἑκατόγχειρες, , Hundred-Handed Ones), or Hundred-Handers, also called the Centimanes, (; la, Centimani), named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon (mythology), Aegaeon) and Gyges (or Gyes), ...
were said to each have one hundred hands.
*The
Gegenees
The Gegenees (from Greek: Γηγενεής ''Gēgeneēs''; Γηγενής ''Gēgenēs'', "earth-born") were a race of six-armed giants who inhabited the same island as the Doliones in the ancient Greek epic ''Argonautica''.Apollonius Rhodius, ''Ar ...
were a race of giants with six arms.
*The
centaurs
A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse.
Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...
had six limbs: four horse legs and two human arms.
Sleipnir
In Norse mythology, Sleipnir (Old Norse: ; "slippy"Orchard (1997:151). or "the slipper"Kermode (1904:6).) is an eight-legged horse ridden by Odin. Sleipnir is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional ...
, Odin's horse in
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...
, has eight normal horse legs, and is usually depicted with limbs twinned at the shoulder or hip.
Several
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
deities are depicted with multiple arms and sometimes also multiple legs.
In popular culture
*
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
's stage play ''
The Man Who Had Three Arms
''The Man Who Had Three Arms'' is a two-act play for three actors by Edward Albee. The play ran briefly on Broadway in 1983.
Overview
The play takes place in a theatre where the main character Himself is about to speak to the assembled group abou ...
'' tells the story of a fictional individual who was normal at birth but eventually sprouted a third functional arm, protruding from between his shoulder blades. After several years of living with three arms, the extra limb was reabsorbed into his body and the man became physically normal again. In Albee's play, the title character is extremely angry that we (the audience) seem to be much more interested in the period of his life when he had three arms, rather than his normal life before and after that interval.
*''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
'' performed a skit about a man with three buttocks. He believes that he has been invited to be interviewed on television because he is a nice person, and is dismayed to learn that he has only been invited because the interviewer is curious about his unusual condition.
*''
The Dark Backward
''The Dark Backward'' (also known as ''The Man with Three Arms'') is a 1991 American satirical comedy film written and directed by Adam Rifkin, and starring Judd Nelson, Bill Paxton, Wayne Newton, and Lara Flynn Boyle. The film features special m ...
'' is a 1991 comedy film directed and written by Adam Rifkin, which features Judd Nelson as an unfunny garbage man who pursues a stand-up comedy career. When the "comedian" grows a third arm out of his back, he becomes an overnight hit.
*
Justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
, the main antagonist in the
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
''
Afro Samurai
is a Japanese ''seinen'' ''dōjinshi'' manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde ''dōjinshi'' manga magazine ''Nou Nou Hau'' from November 1998 to Septe ...
'', has a fully formed extra arm protruding from his right shoulder.
*
*
Paco
Paco is a Spanish nickname for Francisco. According to folk etymology, the nickname has its origins in Saint Francis of Assisi, who was the father of the Franciscan order; his name was written in Latin by the order as ''Pater Communitatis'' (fath ...
, a playable character in ''
Brawlout
''Brawlout'' is a fighting game developed and published by Angry Mob Games for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game was revealed at EVO in July 2016, and went into closed beta in December 2016. The game wa ...
'', is a four-armed
frog
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...
- and
shark
Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
-like creature.
*
Spiral
In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:[X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, first appearing in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and writer/editor Stan Lee in 1963. Although initially cancelled in ...]
stories of
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
, has six arms.
*A 6-armed
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...
frequently appears as an alternate reality incarnation of the character, and is sometimes referred to as "Polymelian".
*In the ''
Mortal Kombat
''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...
'' series, the Shokan is a race of humanoids known to have four arms.
*''
Ibid: A Life'' is a fictional biography of Jonathan Blashette, a man with three legs.
*
Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zaphod Beeblebrox () is a fictional character in the various versions of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams.
He is from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and is a "semi-half-cousin" ...
, a character in
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author and screenwriter, best known for ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Originally a 1978 BBC radio comedy, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' developed into a " ...
' ''
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it w ...
'', has a third arm as well as a second head.
See also
*
Dipygus
Dipygus is a severe congenital deformity where the body axis forks left and right partway along the torso with the posterior end ( pelvis and legs) duplicated.
Myrtle Corbin was a dipygus; she married and had five children. In human cases, the ...
*
Dysmelia
Dysmelia (from the Greek (), "bad" + (), "limb" + English suffix -ia) is a congenital disorder of a limb resulting from a disturbance in embryonic development.(2006) Dysmelia (Limb Deficiency/Reduction). pp 312-322. In: Atlas of Genetic Diagnosi ...
*
Polydactyly
Polydactyly or polydactylism (), also known as hyperdactyly, is an anomaly in humans and animals resulting in supernumerary fingers and/or toes. Polydactyly is the opposite of oligodactyly (fewer fingers or toes).
Signs and symptoms
In humans ...
*
Polysyndactyly
Polysyndactyly is a congenital anomaly, combining polydactyly and syndactyly, in which affected individuals have an extra finger or toe that is connected, via fusing or webbing, to an adjacent digit.
__TOC__
Signs and symptoms
Presentations o ...
*
Supernumerary body parts
Supernumerary body parts are most commonly a congenital disorder involving the growth of an additional part of the body and a deviation from the body plan. Body parts may be easily visible or hidden away, such as internal organs.
Many addition ...
References
Sources
*Avian Diseases, 1985 Jan-Mar; 29(1): pp. 244-5. ''Polymelia in a broiler chicken.'', Anderson WI, Langheinrich KA, McCaskey PC.: "A polymelus monster was observed in a 7-week-old slaughterhouse chicken. The supernumerary limbs were smaller than the normal appendages but contained an equal number of digits.".
*
*{{cite web, url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jun102001/1447.pdf , title=Polymelia in the toad ''Bufo melanostictus'', website=Ias.ac.in, accessdate=2016-12-22
External links
*2013
child with two left legsYoutube video of child with notomelia Pathology
Rare diseases
Congenital disorders
Supernumerary body parts