Subarcuate fossa
Subarcuate fossa | |
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Details | |
Identifiers | |
Latin | Fossa subarcuata ossis temporalis |
TA98 | A02.1.06.034 |
TA2 | 672 |
FMA | 56418 |
Anatomical terms of bone |
In the temporal bone at the sides of the skull, 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 a branch of the meatal segment of anterior inferior cerebellar 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 cerebellum, the petrosal lobe.