Pterygoid fossa

{{Short description|Depression in the sphenoid bone of the skull}}

{{Infobox bone

| Name = Pterygoid fossa

| Latin = fossa pterygoidea ossis sphenoidalis

| Image = Gray147.png

| Caption = Sphenoid bone. Upper and posterior surfaces. (Pterygoid fossa labeled at left.)

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| Caption2 =

}}

The pterygoid fossa is an anatomical term for the fossa formed by the divergence of the lateral pterygoid plate and the medial pterygoid plate of the sphenoid bone.

Structure

The lateral and medial pterygoid plates (of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone) diverge behind and enclose between them a V-shaped fossa, the pterygoid fossa. This fossa faces posteriorly, and contains the medial pterygoid muscle and the tensor veli palatini muscle.