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The greater wing of the sphenoid bone, or alisphenoid, is a bony process of the sphenoid bone, positioned in the skull behind each eye.There is one on each side, extending from the side of the body of the sphenoid and curving upward, laterally, and backward.
The sphenoid bone [note 1] is an unpaired bone of the neurocranium. It is situated in the middle of the skull towards the front, in front of the basilar part of the occipital bone. The sphenoid bone is one of the seven bones that articulate to form the orbit. Its shape somewhat resembles that of a butterfly, bat or wasp with its wings extended.
In some rodents, the alisphenoid strut is an extension of the alisphenoid bone that separates two foramina in the skull, the masticatory–buccinator foramen and the foramen ovale accessorium. The presence or absence of this strut is variable between species, but also within them; some Oryzomyini even have a strut on one side of the skull but ...
The lateral pterygoid plate of the sphenoid (or lateral lamina of pterygoid process) is broad, thin, and everted and forms the lateral part of a horseshoe like process that extends from the inferior aspect of the sphenoid bone, and serves as the origin of the lateral pterygoid muscle, which functions in allowing the mandible to move in a lateral and medial direction, or from side-to-side.
The splanchnocranium consists of cartilage and endochondral bone. In mammals, the splanchnocranium comprises the three ear ossicles (i.e., incus, malleus, and stapes), as well as the alisphenoid, the styloid process, the hyoid apparatus, and the thyroid cartilage. [2]
The epipterygoid is an endochondral bone (derived from cartilage), similar to the braincase but unlike most other bones in the skull. In squamates, the epipterygoid generally has a slender rod-like shape, and is also known as the columella cranii. [1] The epipterygoid is considered to be homologous to the alisphenoid bone of mammals. [2]
The sella turcica is located in the sphenoid bone behind the chiasmatic groove and the tuberculum sellae.It belongs to the middle cranial fossa. [1]The sella turcica's most inferior portion is known as the hypophyseal fossa (the "seat of the saddle"), and contains the pituitary gland (hypophysis).
The lateral surfaces of the body are united with the greater wings of the sphenoid and the medial pterygoid plates.. Above the attachment of each greater wing is a broad groove, curved something like the italic letter f; it lodges the internal carotid artery and the cavernous sinus, and is named the carotid sulcus.