mystacial

1. not comparableHaving a fringe of hairs suggestive of a moustache.
2. not comparablePertaining to the area around the vibrissae on either side of the muzzle of a mammal such as a rodent or cat.

   Harbor seals use their mystacial vibrissae in a cold environment.

   2012, Peter J. Snow, Peter Wilson, Plasticity in the Somatosensory System of Developing and Mature Mammals, →ISBN, page 150

   3 more examples

   The mystacial pads are large and fleshy, extending beyond the nostrils.

   1993, Thomas A. Jefferson, Stephen Leatherwood, Marc A. Webber, Marine Mammals of the World, →ISBN, page 282

   The vibrissal system of the rat is an example of active tactile sensing, and has recently been used as a prototype in construction of touch-oriented robots. Active vibrissal exploration and touch are enabled and controlled by musculature of the mystacial pad.

   2012, Issues in Anatomy, Physiology, Metabolism, Morphology, and Human Biology, →ISBN

   In group I (anatomic study group, n=8), Lewis rats were subject to harvesting technique trialing and the mystacial vascular network was drawn

   2015, Maria Z. Siemionow, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, →ISBN

plural mystacials

1. Any of the large rigid whiskers (vibrissae) that appear on the fleshy pads on either side of the muzzle of an animal such as a cat or rodent.

   During the third week, the mystacials and ulnarcarpals are the first to form.

   3 more examples

   Pocock (1926, pp. 1040-41) described the facial vibrissae in the adult animal and he too found that the mystacials are greatly reduced in number and length, a condition which is common to all the ant-eating mammals (Pocock, 1914).

   1959, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, page 94

   The superciliary whiskers above the eyes and the genal whiskers on the cheeks are less rigid and distinctly less mobile than the mystacials.

   1999, Wild Discovery Guide to Your Cat

   The large amount of nervous tissue devoted to processing and integrating information coming from the mystacials indicates their importance as sense organs, perhaps most importantly when the snout is being directed towards prey.

   2012, John W. S. Bradshaw, Rachel A. Casey, Sarah L. Brown, The Behaviour of the Domestic Cat, →ISBN, page 21