In the temporal bone at the sides of the skull, above and between the

aquæductus vestibuli At the hinder part of the medial wall of the vestibule is the orifice of the vestibular aqueduct, which extends to the posterior surface of the petrous portion of the temporal bone. It transmits a small vein, and contains a tubular prolongation ...

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 The semicircular canals or semicircular ducts are three semicircular, interconnected tubes located in the innermost part of each ear, the inner ear. The three canals are the horizontal, superior and posterior semicircular canals. Structure The ...

. 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.

References

External links

* Bones of the head and neck {{musculoskeletal-stub