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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 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 posterior clinoid processes are the tubercles of the sphenoid bone situated at the superior angles of the dorsum sellae (one on each angle) which represents the posterior boundary of the sella turcica. They vary considerably in size and form.
The foramen ovale is an opening in the greater wing of the sphenoid bone. [1] The foramen ovale is one of two cranial foramina in the greater wing, the other being the foramen spinosum. [2]: 771 The foramen ovale is posterolateral to the foramen rotundum and anteromedial to the foramen spinosum.
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.
Anteriorly, the posterior cranial fossa is bounded by the dorsum sellae, posterior aspect of the body of sphenoid bone, and the basilar part of occipital bone/clivus. [2] Laterally, it is bounded by the petrous parts and mastoid parts of the temporal bones, and the lateral parts of occipital bone. [2]
The middle cranial fossa is formed by the sphenoid bones, and the temporal bones. It lodges the temporal lobes, and the pituitary gland. [1] [2] It is deeper than the anterior cranial fossa, is narrow medially and widens laterally to the sides of the skull. It is separated from the posterior cranial fossa by the clivus and the petrous crest.
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.