sigmoid colon

The part of the large intestine that is closest to the rectum and anus. It forms a loop that averages about 40 cm. in length, and normally lies within the pelvis, but on account of its freedom of movement it is liable to be displaced into the abdominal cavity. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the sigmoid colon is

The part of the large intestine that is closest to the rectum and anus. It forms a loop that averages about 40 cm. in length, and normally lies within the pelvis, but on account of its freedom of movement it is liable to be displaced into the abdominal cavity. The atlas records it as a organ at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the sigmoid colon is

It sits within the digestive system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the sigmoid colon connects to

The atlas records 10 typed relationships for it, across 7 kinds of connection. a kind of proximal-distal subdivision of colon.

Supply and innervation

Arterial supply: inferior mesenteric artery. Venous drainage: sigmoid vein. Innervation: inferior mesenteric nerve plexus.

Also called

Also recorded as colon sigmoideum, pelvic colon, sigmoid colon and sigmoid flexure. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001159, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• A kind of: proximal-distal subdivision of colon.
• contains: mucosa of sigmoid colon, muscle layer of sigmoid colon and submucosa of sigmoid colon.
• Continuous with: rectum and descending colon.
• Develops from: hindgut.
• Supplied by: inferior mesenteric artery.
• Innervated by: inferior mesenteric nerve plexus.
• Drained by: sigmoid vein.

Questions

Where is the sigmoid colon?

It sits within the digestive system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the sigmoid colon connect to?

A kind of: proximal-distal subdivision of colon.

Is the sigmoid colon 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.