What is "sterna"

Sternum \Ster"num\, n.; pl. L. Sterna, E. Sternums. [NL., from Gr. ?, the breast, chest.]

1. (Anat.) A plate of cartilage, or a series of bony or cartilaginous plates or segments, in the median line of the pectoral skeleton of most vertebrates above fishes; the breastbone.

   Note: The sternum is connected with the ribs or the pectorial girdle, or with both. In man it is a flat bone, broad anteriorly, narrowed behind, and connected with the clavicles and the cartilages of the seven anterior pairs of ribs. In most birds it has a high median keel for the attachment of the muscles of the wings.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The ventral part of any one of the somites of an arthropod.

alt. (plural of sternum English) n. (plural of sternum English)

1. n. the flat bone that articulates with the clavicles and the first seven pairs of ribs [syn: breastbone]

2. [also: sterna (pl)]

See sternum

Sterna is a genus of terns in the bird family Sternidae. Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn" which appears in the poem The Seafarer; a similar word was used to refer to terns by the Frisians. It used to encompass most "white" terns indiscriminately, but mtDNA sequence comparisons have recently determined that this arrangement is paraphyletic. It is now restricted to the typical medium-sized white terns occurring near-globally in coastal regions.

Sterna is a genus of seabirds.

Sterna may also refer to:

• Sterna, the plural of sternum, the breastbone
• Sterna, Argolis, Greece
• Sterna, Drama, Greece
• Sterna, Evros, Greece
• Sterna Island, a small island off Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula