Skull

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This article is about the skulls of all animals including humans. For other uses, see Skull
(disambiguation) and Cranium (disambiguation).
Skull

Volume rendering of a mouse skull

Details
System Skeletal system
Identifiers
MeSH D012886
TA98 A02.1.00.001
TA2 406
Anatomical terminology
[edit on Wikidata]

The skull is a bone structure that forms the head in vertebrates. It supports the structures of the
face and provides a protective cavity for the brain.[1] The skull is composed of two parts: the
cranium and the mandible.[2] In humans, these two parts are the neurocranium and the
viscerocranium (facial skeleton) that includes the mandible as its largest bone. The skull forms
the anterior-most portion of the skeleton and is a product of cephalisation—housing the brain,
and several sensory structures such as the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.[3] In humans these sensory
structures are part of the facial skeleton.

Functions of the skull include protection of the brain, fixing the distance between the eyes to
allow stereoscopic vision, and fixing the position of the ears to enable sound localisation of the
direction and distance of sounds. In some animals, such as horned ungulates (mammals with
hooves), the skull also has a defensive function by providing the mount (on the frontal bone) for
the horns.
The English word skull is probably derived from Old Norse skulle,[4] while the Latin word
cranium comes from the Greek root κρανίον (kranion). The human skull fully develops two
years after [Link] junctions of the skull bones are joined together by structures called sutures.

The skull is made up of a number of fused flat bones, and contains many foramina, fossae,
processes, and several cavities or sinuses. In zoology there are openings in the skull called
fenestrae.

Contents
 1 Structure
o 1.1 Humans
 1.1.1 Bones
 1.1.2 Cavities and foramina
 1.1.3 Processes
o 1.2 Other vertebrates
 1.2.1 Fenestrae
 1.2.2 Bones
 1.2.3 Fish
 1.2.4 Birds
 1.2.5 Amphibians
 2 Development
 3 Clinical significance
o 3.1 Injuries and treatment
o 3.2 Transgender procedures
 4 Society and culture
o 4.1 Osteology
o 4.2 Sexual dimorphism
o 4.3 Craniometry
 5 Terminology
 6 History
 7 Additional images
 8 See also
 9 References
 10 External links

Structure
Humans

For details and the constituent bones, see Neurocranium and Facial skeleton.
Skull in situ

Anatomy of a flat bone – the periosteum of the neurocranium is known as the pericranium

Human skull from the front

Side bones of skull

The human skull is the bone structure that forms the head in the human skeleton. It supports the
structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain. Like the skulls of other vertebrates, it
protects the brain from injury.[5]

The skull consists of three parts, of different embryological origin—the neurocranium, the
sutures, and the facial skeleton (also called the membraneous viscerocranium). The
neurocranium (or braincase) forms the protective cranial cavity that surrounds and houses the
brain and brainstem.[6] The upper areas of the cranial bones form the calvaria (skullcap). The
membranous viscerocranium includes the mandible.

The sutures are fairly rigid joints between bones of the neurocranium.

The facial skeleton is formed by the bones supporting the face.

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. Sometimes there can be extra bone pieces within the suture known as wormian
bones or sutural bones. Most commonly these are found in the course of the lambdoid suture.

The human skull is generally considered to consist of twenty-two bones—eight cranial bones and
fourteen facial skeleton bones. In the neurocranium these are the occipital bone, two temporal
bones, two parietal bones, the sphenoid, ethmoid and frontal bones.

The bones of the facial skeleton (14) are the vomer, two inferior nasal conchae, two nasal bones,
two maxilla, the mandible, two palatine bones, two zygomatic bones, and two lacrimal bones.
Some sources count a paired bone as one, or the maxilla as having two bones (as its parts); some
sources include the hyoid bone or the three ossicles of the middle ear but the overall general
consensus of the number of bones in the human skull is the stated twenty-two.

Some of these bones—the occipital, parietal, frontal, in the neurocranium, and the nasal,
lacrimal, and vomer, in the facial skeleton are flat bones.

Cavities and foramina

CT scan of a human skull in 3D

The skull also contains sinuses, air-filled cavities known as paranasal sinuses, and numerous
foramina. The sinuses are lined with respiratory epithelium. Their known functions are the
lessening of the weight of the skull, the aiding of resonance to the voice and the warming and
moistening of the air drawn into the nasal cavity.

The foramina are openings in the skull. The largest of these is the foramen magnum that allows
the passage of the spinal cord as well as nerves and blood vessels.

Processes

The many processes of the skull include the mastoid process and the zygomatic processes.

Other vertebrates

Fenestrae

A Centrosaurus skull

Scheme of Spinosaurus skull

The fenestrae in the skull of the dinosaur Massospondylus
The fenestrae (from Latin, meaning windows) are openings in the skull.

 Antorbital fenestra
 Mandibular fenestra
 Quadratojugal fenestra
 Subsquamosal fenestra, an opening between two parts of the squamosal bone in some
rodents
 Temporal fenestra

The temporal fenestrae are anatomical features of the skulls of several types of amniotes,
characterised by bilaterally symmetrical holes (fenestrae) in the temporal bone. Depending on
the lineage of a given animal, two, one, or no pairs of temporal fenestrae may be present, above
or below the postorbital and squamosal bones. The upper temporal fenestrae are also known as
the supratemporal fenestrae, and the lower temporal fenestrae are also known as the
infratemporal fenestrae. The presence and morphology of the temporal fenestra are critical for
taxonomic classification of the synapsids, of which mammals are part.

Physiological speculation associates it with a rise in metabolic rates and an increase in jaw
musculature. The earlier amniotes of the Carboniferous did not have temporal fenestrae but two
more advanced lines did: the synapsids (mammal-like reptiles) and the diapsids (most reptiles
and later birds). As time progressed, diapsids' and synapsids' temporal fenestrae became more
modified and larger to make stronger bites and more jaw muscles. Dinosaurs, which are diapsids,
have large advanced openings, and their descendants, the birds, have temporal fenestrae which
have been modified. Synapsids, possess one fenestral opening in the skull, situated to the rear of
the orbit. In their descendants, the cynodonts, the orbit fused with the fenestral opening after the
latter had started expanding within the therapsids. Thus most mammals also have this. Later,
primates separated their orbit from temporal fossa by the postorbital bar with haplorhines later
evolving the postorbital septum.[7]

Classification
Chimpanzee skull

Goat skull.

There are four types of amniote skull, classified by the number and location of their temporal
fenestrae. These are:

 Anapsida – no openings
 Synapsida – one low opening (beneath the postorbital and squamosal bones)
 Euryapsida – one high opening (above the postorbital and squamosal bones); euryapsids
actually evolved from a diapsid configuration, losing their lower temporal fenestra.
 Diapsida – two openings

Evolutionarily, they are related as follows:

 Amniota
o Class Synapsida
 Order Therapsida
 Class Mammalia – mammals
o (Unranked) Sauropsida – reptiles and birds
 Class Reptilia
 Subclass Parareptilia
 Infraclass Anapsida
 Subclass Eureptilia
 Infraclass Diapsida
  Class Aves
 Infraclass Euryapsida

Bones

The jugal is a skull bone found in most reptiles, amphibians, and birds. In mammals, the jugal is
often called the zygomatic bone or malar bone.[8]

The prefrontal bone is a bone separating the lacrimal and frontal bones in many tetrapod skulls.

Fish

Fish head parts, 1889, Fauna of British India, Sir Francis Day

Skull of a swordfish

The skull of fishes is formed from a series of only loosely connected bones. Lampreys and
sharks only possess a cartilaginous endocranium, with both the upper and lower jaws being
separate elements. Bony fishes have additional dermal bone, forming a more or less coherent
skull roof in lungfish and holost fish. The lower jaw defines a chin.

The simpler structure is found in jawless fish, in which the cranium is normally represented by a
trough-like basket of cartilaginous elements only partially enclosing the brain, and associated
with the capsules for the inner ears and the single nostril. Distinctively, these fish have no jaws.[9]
Cartilaginous fish, such as sharks and rays, have also simple, and presumably primitive, skull
structures. The cranium is a single structure forming a case around the brain, enclosing the lower
surface and the sides, but always at least partially open at the top as a large fontanelle. The most
anterior part of the cranium includes a forward plate of cartilage, the rostrum, and capsules to
enclose the olfactory organs. Behind these are the orbits, and then an additional pair of capsules
enclosing the structure of the inner ear. Finally, the skull tapers towards the rear, where the
foramen magnum lies immediately above a single condyle, articulating with the first vertebra.
There are, in addition, at various points throughout the cranium, smaller foramina for the cranial
nerves. The jaws consist of separate hoops of cartilage, almost always distinct from the cranium
proper.[9]

In ray-finned fish, there has also been considerable modification from the primitive pattern. The
roof of the skull is generally well formed, and although the exact relationship of its bones to
those of tetrapods is unclear, they are usually given similar names for convenience. Other
elements of the skull, however, may be reduced; there is little cheek region behind the enlarged
orbits, and little, if any bone in between them. The upper jaw is often formed largely from the
premaxilla, with the maxilla itself located further back, and an additional bone, the symplectic,
linking the jaw to the rest of the cranium.[10]

Although the skulls of fossil lobe-finned fish resemble those of the early tetrapods, the same
cannot be said of those of the living lungfishes. The skull roof is not fully formed, and consists of
multiple, somewhat irregularly shaped bones with no direct relationship to those of tetrapods.
The upper jaw is formed from the pterygoids and vomers alone, all of which bear teeth. Much of
the skull is formed from cartilage, and its overall structure is reduced.[10]

Tetrapods

Skull of Tiktaalik, an extinct genus transitional between lobe-finned fish and early tetrapods

The skulls of the earliest tetrapods closely resembled those of their ancestors amongst the lobe-
finned fishes. The skull roof is formed of a series of plate-like bones, including the maxilla,
frontals, parietals, and lacrimals, among others. It is overlaying the endocranium, corresponding
to the cartilaginous skull in sharks and rays. The various separate bones that compose the
temporal bone of humans are also part of the skull roof series. A further plate composed of four
pairs of bones forms the roof of the mouth; these include the vomer and palatine bones. 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 mandible.[10]

In living tetrapods, a great many of the original bones have either disappeared or fused into one
another in various arrangements.

Birds

Cuckoo skull

Birds have a diapsid skull, as in reptiles, with a prelacrimal fossa (present in some reptiles). The
skull has a single occipital condyle.[11] The skull consists of five major bones: the frontal (top of
head), parietal (back of head), premaxillary and nasal (top beak), and the mandible (bottom
beak). The skull of a normal bird usually weighs about 1% of the bird's total bodyweight. The
eye occupies a considerable amount of the skull and is surrounded by a sclerotic eye-ring, a ring
of tiny bones. This characteristic is also seen in reptiles.

Amphibians

Amphibians' skulls, Hans Gadow, 1909 Amphibia and Reptiles

Living amphibians typically have greatly reduced skulls, with many of the bones either absent or
wholly or partly replaced by cartilage.[10] In mammals and birds, in particular, modifications of
the skull occurred to allow for the expansion of the brain. The fusion between the various bones
is especially notable in birds, in which the individual structures may be difficult to identify.
Development