What is Sphenoid Bone?

Information about Sphenoid Bone

Bone:
Cranial Bones. Only the end of the wing of the sphenoid bone is visible
Sphenoid bone, upper surface.
Latinos sphenoidale
subject #35 147
MeSH Sphenoid+Bone
The sphenoid bone (from Greek sphenoeides, "wedgelike") is a bone situated at the base of the skull in front of the temporals and basilar part of the occipital bone.

The sphenoid bone somewhat resembles a butterfly or bat with its wings extended.

Portions

It is divided into the following parts: Two sphenoidal conchae are situated at the anterior and posterior part of the body.

Enlarge picture
Seven bones articulate to form the orbit. The sphenoid bone is one of them, labeled with pink

Named features

Various other named features of the sphenoid bone exist:

Additional images


Facial bones.

Lateral wall of nasal cavity, showing ethmoid bone in position.

Sphenoid bone visible center right.

Base of skull. Inferior surface.

Lateral view of the skull.

Horizontal section of nasal and orbital cavities.

Floor of the skull.

Roof, floor, and lateral wall of left nasal cavity.


See also

External links

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Bones of head and neck: the cranium
OccipitalForamen magnum - Squama occipitalis (Inion - Nuchal lines - Planum occipitale - Planum nuchale - Cruciform eminence - Internal occipital protuberance - Sagittal sulcus - Internal occipital crest)
Lateral parts (Occipital condyle - Hypoglossal canal - Condyloid fossa - Condylar canal - Jugular process - Jugular tubercle) - Basilar part (Pharyngeal tubercle)
ParietalParietal eminence - Temporal line - Parietal foramen
FrontalSquama frontalis (Frontal suture - Frontal eminence - Superciliary arches - Glabella - Supraorbital foramen - Zygomatic process - Sagittal sulcus - Frontal crest - Foramen cecum) - Pars orbitalis (Ethmoidal notch - Lacrimal fossa - Trochlear fovea - Posterior ethmoidal foramen - Anterior ethmoidal foramen - Frontal sinus - Frontonasal duct)
TemporalSquama temporalis (Articular tubercle - Suprameatal triangle - Mandibular fossa - Petrotympanic fissure) - Mastoid portion (Mastoid foramen - Mastoid process - Mastoid notch - Occipital groove - Sigmoid sulcus - Mastoid antrum) - Petrous portion (Facial canal - Hiatus of the facial canal - Internal auditory meatus - Subarcuate fossa - Carotid canal - Aqueduct of cochlea - Jugular fossa - Inferior tympanic canaliculus - Mastoid canaliculus - Styloid process - Stylomastoid foramen - Petrosquamous suture) - Tympanic part (Suprameatal spine) - Zygomatic process
SphenoidBody Superior surface (Ethmoidal spine, Chiasmatic groove, Optic foramen, Sella turcica, Fossa hypophyseos, Middle clinoid process, Dorsum sellae, Posterior clinoid processes, Petrosal process, Clivus) - Lateral surface (Carotid groove - Sphenoidal lingula) - Anterior surface (Sphenoidal sinuses) - Great wings (Spine, Foramen rotundum, Foramen ovale, Foramen Vesalii, Foramen spinosum, Infratemporal crest, Sulcus tubae auditivae) - Small wings (Superior orbital fissure, Anterior clinoid process, Optic foramen) - Pterygoid processes (Pterygoid fossa, Scaphoid fossa, Lateral pterygoid plate, Medial pterygoid plate, Pterygoid canal, Pterygoid hamulus) - Sphenoidal conchae
EthmoidCribriform plate (Crista galli) - Perpendicular plate - Labyrinth (Ethmoid sinus) - Lateral surface Lamina papyracea - Uncinate process - Medial surface Middle nasal concha - Superior meatus - Superior nasal concha - Middle meatus
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
Latin 
Official status
Official language of: Vatican City
Used for official purposes, but not spoken in everyday speech
Regulated by: Opus Fundatum Latinitas
Roman Catholic Church
Language codes
ISO 639-1: la
ISO 639-2: lat
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Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals.
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skull is a bony structure found in many animals which serves as the general framework for the head. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury.

The skull can be subdivided into two parts: the cranium and the mandible.
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The temporal bones are situated at the sides and base of the skull.

The temporal bone supports that part of the face known as the temple.

Parts

Each consists of five parts:
  • Squama temporalis
  • Mastoid portion
  • Petrous portion
  • Tympanic part

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The occipital bone, a saucer-shaped membrane bone situated at the back and lower part of the cranium, is trapezoid in shape and curved on itself. It is pierced by a large oval aperture, the foramen magnum, through which the cranial cavity communicates with the vertebral canal.
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Rhopalocera

Superfamilies and families
  • Superfamily Hedyloidea:
  • Hedylidae
  • Superfamily Hesperioidea:
  • Hesperiidae

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The body of the sphenoid bone, more or less cubical in shape, is hollowed out in its interior to form two large cavities, the sphenoidal air sinuses, which are separated from each other by a septum.

Superior surface

The superior surface of the body [Fig.
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The greater wing of the sphenoid bone, or ali-sphenoid, is a bony process of the sphenoid bone; there is one on each side, extending from the side of the body of the sphenoid and curving upward, laterally, and backwards.
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The lesser wings of the sphenoid or orbito-sphenoids are two thin triangular plates, which arise from the upper and anterior parts of the body, and, projecting lateralward, end in sharp points [Fig. 1].
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The pterygoid processes of the sphenoid, one on either side, descend perpendicularly from the regions where the body and great wings unite.

Each process consists of a Medial pterygoid plate and a Lateral pterygoid plate, the upper parts of which are fused anteriorly; a
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The sphenoidal conchae (sphenoidal turbinated processes) are two thin, curved plates, situated at the anterior and lower part of the body of the sphenoid. An aperture of variable size exists in the anterior wall of each, and through this the sphenoidal sinus opens into the
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The pterygoid fossa is an anatomical term for the fossa formed by the divergence of the lateral pterygoid plate and the medial pterygoid plate of the sphenoid bone.

Structure


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scaphoid fossa, which gives origin to the Tensor veli palatini.

External links

  • Diagram - look for #28 (source here )
This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy.
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pterygoid hamulus, around which the tendon of the Tensor veli palatini glides.

Additional images



Base of skull. Inferior surface.

Left infratemporal fossa.

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The pterygoid canal (also vidian canal) is a passage in the skull leading from just anterior to the foramen lacerum in the middle cranial fossa to the pterygopalatine fossa.
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Until the seventh or eighth month of fetal life the body of the sphenoid consists of two parts: one in front of the tuberculum sellæ, the presphenoid, with which the small wings are continuous; the other, comprising the sella turcica and dorsum sellæ, the postsphenoid, with which are
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A fibrous band that spans the sphenoid bone from its spine to the superior border of the lateral pterygoid plate.
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In sciences dealing with the anatomy of animals, precise anatomical terms of location are necessary for a variety of reasons. Non-scientists often wonder why zoological and human anatomists use complex terminology to describe locations on a body, when common terms like "up",
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The State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, better known as SUNY Downstate Medical Center, is an academic medical center and is the only one of its kind in the Borough of Brooklyn in New York City.
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Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals.
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Head and neck anatomy focuses on the structures of the head and neck of the human body, including the brain, bones, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, glands, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, and throat.
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skull is normally made up of 22 bones. Except for the mandible, all of the bones of the skull are joined together by sutures, synarthrodial (immovable) joints formed by bony ossification, with Sharpey's fibres permitting some flexibility.
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The occipital bone, a saucer-shaped membrane bone situated at the back and lower part of the cranium, is trapezoid in shape and curved on itself. It is pierced by a large oval aperture, the foramen magnum, through which the cranial cavity communicates with the vertebral canal.
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In anatomy, in the occipital bone, the foramen magnum (Latin: 'great hole') is one of the several oval or circular apertures in the base of the skull (the foramina), through which the medulla oblongata (an extension of the spinal cord) enters and exits the skull vault.
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The squama of the occipital bone, situated above and behind the foramen magnum, is curved from above downward and from side to side.

External surface

The external surface
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The inion is the most prominent projection of the occipital bone at the lower rear part of the skull. The ligamentum nuchae and trapezius muscle attach to it.

The term external occipital protuberance (protuberantia occipitalis externa
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The nuchal lines are four curved lines on the external surface of the occipital bone:
  • The upper, often faintly marked, is named the highest nuchal line, and to it the galea aponeurotica is attached.

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planum occipitale (or occipital plane), and is covered by the Occipitalis muscle.

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.
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planum nuchale (or nuchal plane), is rough and irregular for the attachment of several muscles.

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.
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