Zoology · Ch 9 — Locomotion and Movement
The Skull
The Skull
The Skull
The skull is composed of two sets of bones totalling 22: 8 cranial bones and 14 facial bones (Figure 9.7). The cranial bones interlock via immovable joints called sutures to form the hard, protective "brain box" (cranial capacity roughly 1500 cm3), made of a paired parietal bone, a paired temporal bone, and the individually unpaired frontal, sphenoid, occipital and ethmoid bones. A large opening in the temporal bone, the external auditory meatus, is the opening of the ear canal.
The facial bones form the front of the face: the maxilla, zygomatic, palatine, lacrimal and nasal bones are paired, while the mandible (lower jaw) and vomer are unpaired single bones. The upper jaw is formed by the maxilla and is fused to the cranium (immovable); the lower jaw is formed by the mandible and connects to the cranium only via muscles, making it the one freely movable bone of the skull. …
What this figure shows. Own-words cover: lateral and anterior views of the human skull labelling the parietal, frontal, temporal, sphenoid, ethmoid and occipital cranial bones, the nasal, lacrimal, zygomatic, maxilla, mandible and vomer facial bones, and the external auditory meatus (the ear opening in the temporal bone); a separate inset shows the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, the intervertebral discs, and the fused sacrum …