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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.
The greater wings of the sphenoid are two strong processes of bone, which arise from the sides of the body, and are curved upward, laterally, and backward; the posterior part of each projects as a triangular process that fits into the angle between the squamous and the petrous part of the temporal bone and presents at its apex a downward-directed process, the spine of sphenoid bone.
Originally, the openings in the skull left the inner cranium covered only by the jaw muscles, but in higher therapsids and mammals, the sphenoid bone has expanded to close the opening. This has left the lower margin of the opening as an arch extending from the lower edges of the braincase.
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
The base of the cranium is formed from a ring of bones surrounding the foramen magnum and a median bone lying further forward; these are homologous with the occipital bone and parts of the sphenoid in mammals. Finally, the lower jaw is composed of multiple bones, only the most anterior of which (the dentary) is homologous with the mammalian ...
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.
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.
Several of these bones merge, and in the adult primates (including humans), the endocranium is composed of only five bony elements (from front to back): [4] The ethmoid bone, lying behind the nose. The sphenoid bone, underlying the forward portion of the brain; Paired petrous part of the temporal bones, containing the inner ear structures