Synonyms

Tectum ( TC ; Schwalbe, 1881 ) : The dorsal (Barclay, 1803) topographic division of the midbrain (Baer, 1837), essentially dorsal to the cerebral aqueduct (His, 1895) and dominated in mammals by the superior colliculi and inferior colliculi, and contrasting with the ventral (Schulze, 1893) topographic division, the tegmentum (Swanson, 2000). Galen (c177) pointed out the colliculi for macrodissected animals not including humans, referring to them as "little buttocks"; see translation by May (1968, p. 420). Schwalbe (1881, p. 454) apparently introduced the term as currently used, "Decke des Mittelhirns" in the original German; also see Cajal (1899-1904, vol 2, pt 1, p. 449), "el techo" and "la porción tectal" in the original Spanish. Also see Williams & Warwick (1980, p. 940), International Anatomical Nomenclature Committee (1983, p. A68), Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology (1998, A14.1.06.601). Common synonym is corpora quadrigemina (Winslow, 1733).