Axial Skeleton

Question 1

What is a process in bone terminology?

Answer 1

Any bony projection.

Question 2

Define tuberosity in skeletal anatomy.

Answer 2

A roughened, raised area on a bone, usually for muscle attachment.

Question 3

What is a protuberance in bone terminology?

Answer 3

A projection beyond a bone’s surface.

Question 4

What is a spine in bone structure?

Answer 4

A sharp, slender, often pointed projection.

Question 5

What is a tubercle?

Answer 5

A small rounded projection on a bone.

Question 6

What is a trochanter and where is it found?

Answer 6

A large, blunt, irregular projection; only found on the femur.

Question 7

What is a fossa in bone anatomy?

Answer 7

A shallow basin-like depression, often an articular surface.

Question 8

Define condyle in bone terminology.

Answer 8

A rounded articular projection.

Question 9

What is a head in bone features?

Answer 9

A bony expansion carried on a narrow neck.

Question 10

Define facet in bone terminology.

Answer 10

A smooth, nearly flat articular surface.

Question 11

What is a foramen?

Answer 11

A round or oval opening through a bone.

Question 12

Define groove in bone structure.

Answer 12

An elongated indentation or furrow.

Question 13

What is a notch?

Answer 13

An indentation at the edge of a structure.

Question 14

What is a fissure?

Answer 14

A narrow, slit-like opening in a bone.

Question 15

What is a meatus?

Answer 15

A canal-like passageway in bone.

Question 16

What is the mastoid process?

Answer 16

A bony projection behind the ear, part of the temporal bone.

Question 17

What is the styloid process?

Answer 17

A slender, pointed projection from the temporal bone.

Question 18

Where is the zygomatic process located?

Answer 18

Projects from the temporal bone and connects to the zygomatic bone.

Question 19

What is the mandibular fossa?

Answer 19

Depression in the temporal bone that articulates with the mandible (TMJ joint).

Question 20

What is the external acoustic meatus?

Answer 20

Canal-like opening in the temporal bone; ear canal.

Question 21

Where is the occipital condyle?

Answer 21

Located on either side of the foramen magnum; articulates with the atlas (C1).

Question 22

What passes through the foramen magnum?

Answer 22

The spinal cord.

Question 23

What is the external occipital protuberance?

Answer 23

Midline bump on the posterior part of the skull’s base.

Question 24

What bones form the anterior cranial fossa?

Answer 24

Frontal, Ethmoid, Sphenoid, and Parietal bones.

Question 25

What bones form the middle cranial fossa?

Answer 25

Sphenoid, Temporal, and Parietal bones.

Question 26

What bones form the posterior cranial fossa?

Answer 26

Occipital, Temporal, and Parietal bones.

Question 27

Where is the cribriform plate located?

Answer 27

In the ethmoid bone, superior to the nasal cavity.

Question 28

What are olfactory foramina?

Answer 28

Small holes in the cribriform plate for passage of olfactory nerves.

Question 29

Where is the crista galli?

Answer 29

A vertical projection on the ethmoid bone for attachment of meninges.

Question 30

What is the function of the perpendicular plate?

Answer 30

Forms the superior portion of the nasal septum.

Question 31

What does the sphenoid bone articulate with?

Answer 31

All other cranial bones.

Question 32

What is the sella turcica?

Answer 32

Depression in the sphenoid bone housing the pituitary gland.

Question 33

What is the function of the pterygoid processes?

Answer 33

Attachment for jaw muscles; resemble butterfly legs.

Question 34

What structure passes through the jugular foramen?

Answer 34

Jugular vein and cranial nerves IX, X, and XI.

Question 35

Where is the hypoglossal canal located?

Answer 35

In the occipital bone; passage for hypoglossal nerve (CN XII).