The Dorsal Rami
As a rule, the dorsal rami are considerably smaller than the ventral and have simpler distributions. Each dorsal ramus divides into a medial branch that supplies the local part of the epaxial musculature of the neck, trunk, or tail and a lateral branch that is distributed to the dorsal part of the skin segment (dermatome) served by the particular spinal nerve.
These areas extend from the dorsal midline for a variable distance over the animal's side. The territories served by the dorsal rami of the first few cervical nerves extend rostrally onto the poll region of the head in addition to supplying skin over the neck; the dorsal rami of the spinal nerves at the cervicothoracic junction supply skin over the upper part of the shoulder; those of the middle and caudal thoracic and lumbar regions serve increasingly larger areas of the skin of the chest wall and flank. The dorsal rami of the sacral spinal nerves serve more restricted areas. Inconspicuous connections between neighboring nerves form a continuous plexus through which exchange of fibers blurs the boundaries between the dermatomes supplied by individual nerves; indeed, it is probable that every part of the skin receives sensory fibers from two, if not three, spinal nerves.
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