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The occipital condyles are undersurface protuberances of the occipital bone in vertebrates, which function in articulation with the superior facets of the atlas vertebra.. The condyles are oval or reniform (kidney-shaped) in shape, and their anterior extremities, directed forward and medialward, are closer together than their posterior, and encroach on the basilar portion of the bone; the ...
The singular basioccipital is the rear lower part of the braincase, below the foramen magnum. It is homologous to the basilar part of the occipital bone . In the ancestral tetrapod, the basioccipital makes up most of a large central knob-like surface, the occipital condyle, which articulates with the vertebrae as a ball-and-socket joint .
The basilar part of the occipital bone (also basioccipital) extends forward and upward from the foramen magnum, and presents in front an area more or less quadrilateral in outline. In the young skull, this area is rough and uneven, and is joined to the body of the sphenoid by a plate of cartilage.
Due to its many attachments and features, the occipital bone is described in terms of separate parts. From its front to the back is the basilar part, also called the basioccipital, at the sides of the foramen magnum are the lateral parts, also called the exoccipitals, and the back is named as the squamous part.
The under surface of the jugular process is rough, and gives attachment to the Rectus capitis lateralis muscle and the lateral atlanto-occipital ligament; from this surface an eminence, the paramastoid process, sometimes projects downward, and may be of sufficient length to reach, and articulate with, the transverse process of the atlas.
The condylar canal (or condyloid canal) is a canal in the condyloid fossa of the lateral parts of occipital bone behind the occipital condyle.Resection of the rectus capitis posterior major and minor muscles reveals the bony recess leading to the condylar canal, which is situated posterior and lateral to the occipital condyle.
The head rests on the top part of the vertebral column, with the skull joining at C1 (the first cervical vertebra known as the atlas).The skeletal section of the head and neck forms the top part of the axial skeleton and is made up of the skull, hyoid bone, auditory ossicles, and cervical spine.
Behind either condyle of the lateral parts of occipital bone is a depression, the condyloid fossa (or condylar fossa), which receives the posterior margin of the superior facet of the atlas when the head is bent backward; the floor of this fossa is sometimes perforated by the condyloid canal, through which an emissary vein passes from the transverse sinus.