Pterygoid bone

The wing bone (os pterygoideum ), also called the pterygoid, is a narrow thin bones of the skull of mammals, which inside the wing extension ( pterygoid process ) of the sphenoid bone rests. It also has contact with the palatine bone. In humans, the pterygoid to the sphenoid ( sphenoid ) is not named as an independent bone, but counted, it corresponds there to the inner lamina (lamina medialis ) of the pterygoid process -. From the bottom edge of the wing bone and the lamina medialis arises from a hook- shaped extension, the pterygoid hamulus.

In fish there are in the jockstrap three piano legs: Ectopterygoid, Entopterygoid and Metapterygoid - all three can be dentate. The Metapterygoid directed originally behind the orbit on the neurocranium, but must also cover parts of the bone because of the ( rare ) dentition included. In reptiles, the ( Ento ) pterygoid part of the rear wall of the palatal arch.