1.1 The Bony Skull - General Features

Question 1

What is the most common type of joint seen between most bones in the skull?

Answer 1

Fibrous suture joint

Question 2

What 3 parts are the skull divided into?

Answer 2

1. Neuro-cranium
2. Facial skull (viscera-cranium)
3. Mandible

Question 3

What is the structure of a skull bone from exterior to interior?

Answer 3

Compact cortical bone -> spongey trabecular bone -> compact cortical bone

Question 4

What part of the skull houses bone marrow?

Answer 4

Spongey

Question 5

Name the bones of the skull

Answer 5

Cranium:
- Parietal
- Occipital
- Temporal 
Facial skeleton:
- Frontal 
- Zygomatic 
- Maxilla
- Mandible 
- Ethmoid
- Lacrimal 
- Vomer
- Nasal

Question 6

What is the name of the suture between the 2 parietal bones?

Answer 6

Sagittal suture

Question 7

What is the name of the suture between the frontal and parietal bones?

Answer 7

Coronal suture

Question 8

What is the name of the suture between the parietal bone and occipital bone?

Answer 8

Lambdoid suture

Question 9

What is the name of the suture between the parietal and temporal bone?

Answer 9

Squamous suture

Question 10

What do the bones of the facial skeleton give attachment to?

Answer 10

Muscles of the tongue
Muscles of mastication
Muscles of the pharynx

Question 11

What bone is the occipital protuberance a part of?

Answer 11

Occipital bone

Question 12

What bone is the mastoid process a part of?

Answer 12

Temporal bone

Question 13

What bones are the zygomatic arch a part of?

Answer 13

Temporal (zygomatic process) and zygomatic (temporal process) bones

Question 14

What bone is the styloid process a part of?

Answer 14

Temporal bone

Question 15

What bone are the occipital condyles part of?

Answer 15

Occipital

Question 16

What are the 3 cranial fossae of the skull floor?

Answer 16

1. Anterior cranial fossa
2. Middle cranial fossa
3. Posterior cranial fossa

Question 17

Name the parts of the sphenoid bone?

Answer 17

• body
• greater wing
• lesser wing
• pituitary fossa
• pterygoid plates

Question 18

Which parts of the sphenoid bone are easily seen in a transverse slide?

Answer 18

• greater wing
• lesser wing
• pituitary fossa

Question 19

Which part of the sphenoid bone is most clearly seen in a coronal slide?

Answer 19

body

Question 20

Which part of the sphenoid bone are seen on the inferior aspect of the skull floor?

Answer 20

pterygoid plates

Question 21

What is the largest foramen of the skull, seen in the posterior cranial fossa?

Answer 21

Foramen magnum

Question 22

Name 2 structures which pass through the foramen magnum?

Answer 22

1. Spinal accessory nerve

2. Right & left vertebral arteries

Question 23

What are orbits?

Answer 23

Sockets for the eyeball

Question 24

What are air sinuses/sacs?

Answer 24

Air spaces present within some skull bones which play a role in decreasing the weight of the skull

Question 25

Where are the air sinuses present?

Answer 25

In bones around the nasal cavity and then open into it

Question 26

Where is the frontal sinus found?

Answer 26

Frontal bone

Question 27

What are the ear ossicles?

Answer 27

3 small bones that play a role in hearing

Question 28

Name the ear ossicles

Answer 28

• hammer
• anvil
• stirrup

Question 29

What is the external ear canal also known as?

Answer 29

external auditory meatus

Question 30

Where are the ear ossicles found?

Answer 30

The petrous part of the temporal bone