Subarcuate fossa

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Bone: Subarcuate fossa
Left temporal bone. Inner surface. (Subarcuate fossa not labeled, but aquæductus vestibuli labeled at lower right.)
Base of the skull. Upper surface. (Subarcuate fossa not labeled, but temporal bone is identified in pink, and "Eminentia arcuata" is labeled.)
Latin f. subarcuata ossis temporalis
Gray's subject #34 143
Dorlands
/ Elsevier
    
f_14/12376677

In the temporal bone, above and between the aquæductus vestibuli is an irregular depression which lodges a process of the dura mater and transmits a small vein and the subarcuate artery [1]a branch of the internal auditory artery, which is an end artery that supplies blood to the inner ear ; in the infant this depression is represented by a large fossa, the subarcuate fossa, which extends backward as a blind tunnel under the superior semicircular canal.

It is extensive in most primates (except for great apes) and nearly all mammals. In these animals, the subarcuate fossa houses a part of the brains cerebellum, the petrosal lobe. see [2] [3]

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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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.