piriformis muscle

The piriformis is a muscle in the gluteal region that originates from the anterior (front) part of the sacrum, the part of the spine in the gluteal region, and from the superior margin of the greater sciatic notch (as well as the sacroiliac joint capsule and the sacrotuberous ligament). It exits the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen to insert on the greater trochanter of the femur. Its tendon often joins with the tendons of the superior gemellus, inferior gemellus, and obturator internus muscles prior to insertion[WP,modified]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the piriformis muscle is

The piriformis is a muscle in the gluteal region that originates from the anterior (front) part of the sacrum, the part of the spine in the gluteal region, and from the superior margin of the greater sciatic notch (as well as the sacroiliac joint capsule and the sacrotuberous ligament). It exits the pelvis through the greater sciatic foramen to insert on the greater trochanter of the femur. Its tendon often joins with the tendons of the superior gemellus, inferior gemellus, and obturator internus muscles prior to insertion[WP,modified]. The atlas records it as a muscle at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the piriformis muscle is

It sits in the pelvis and trunk, within the muscular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the piriformis muscle connects to

The atlas records 6 typed relationships for it, across 6 kinds of connection. part of musculature of pelvic girdle.

Supply and innervation

Arterial supply: superior gluteal artery.

Also called

Also recorded as m.piriformis, piriformis, musculus piriformis, piriform muscle and piriformis muscle. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0008529, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: musculature of pelvic girdle.
• A kind of: gluteal muscle.
• inserts into: greater trochanter.
• originates from: fused sacrum.
• transports: greater sciatic notch.
• Supplied by: superior gluteal artery.

Questions

Where is the piriformis muscle?

It sits in the pelvis and trunk, within the muscular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the piriformis muscle connect to?

Part of: musculature of pelvic girdle.

Is the piriformis muscle the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.