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In many mammals this is a separate tympanic bone derived from the angular bone of the reptilian lower jaw, and, in some cases, it has an additional entotympanic bone. The auditory bulla is homologous with the tympanic part of the temporal bone. [8] Two parts of the hyoid arch: the styloid process.
These extended margins of thinned bone are called supratemporal fossae. Synapsids, including mammals, have one temporal fenestra, which is ventrally bordered by a zygomatic arch composed of the jugal and squamosal bones. This single temporal fenestra is homologous to the infratemporal fenestra, as displayed most clearly by early synapsids. [2]
In all extant and extinct primates, including humans, the auditory bulla is formed by the petrosal bone (the petrous part of the temporal bone). This is a diagnostic trait that can be used to distinguish primates, including anthropoids, tarsiers, lemurs, and lorises, from all other mammals. [3]
In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the temporal bone of the skull with a system of passages comprising two main functional parts: [2] The cochlea, dedicated to hearing; converting sound pressure patterns from the outer ear into electrochemical impulses which are passed on to the brain via the auditory nerve.
In many mammals, the middle ear also becomes protected within a cavity, the auditory bulla, not found in other vertebrates. A bulla evolved late in time and independently numerous times in different mammalian clades, and it can be surrounded by membranes, cartilage or bone. The bulla in humans is part of the temporal bone. [7]
The inner ear sits within the temporal bone in a complex cavity called the bony labyrinth. A central area known as the vestibule contains two small fluid-filled recesses, the utricle and saccule. These connect to the semicircular canals and the cochlea. There are three semicircular canals angled at right angles to each other which are ...
In contrast, all other jawed vertebrates, including reptiles and nonmammalian synapsids, possess a jaw joint in which one of the smaller bones of the lower jaw, the articular, makes a connection with a bone of the cranium called the quadrate bone to form the articular-quadrate jaw joint. In forms transitional to mammals, the jaw joint is ...
1 occipital bone; 2 parietal bones; 1 sphenoid bone; 2 temporal bones; The ossicles (three on each side) are usually not included as bones of the neurocranium. [6] There may variably also be extra sutural bones present. Below the neurocranium is a complex of openings and bones, including the foramen magnum which houses