MEDIVEERSETHE PRACTICAL HUB
Forms the posterior skull and much of the posterior cranial floor. Surrounds the foramen magnum. Bears paired occipital condyles inferiorly.
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Occipital bone: magnified reference view with a numbered learning marker. The complete original plate is available in the next view.
Image: OpenStax College / university open textbook · Source / original · CC BY 4.0Numbered markers and focused views are Mediveerse learning overlays; the original reference is linked above.
Occipital bone
Understand what you see.
Forms the posterior skull and much of the posterior cranial floor.
Zoom into the original labels. Practise pointing out each structure, then explain it aloud. Diagrams are teaching references; specimen appearance and slide staining vary.
How to recognise it.
- Forms the posterior skull and much of the posterior cranial floor
- Surrounds the foramen magnum
- Bears paired occipital condyles inferiorly
Point them out.
Tap a number to open its reference, zoom in and locate the structure. Numbers stay the same across views. This key follows landmarks visible in the reference images.
Think first. Then reveal.
Say your answer aloud before opening the suggested response.
Examiner-style prompts: identify the structure, explain its relations, then answer the applied follow-up. These are revision questions, not authenticated past papers.
01Identify occipital bone and justify your identification.+
Forms the posterior skull and much of the posterior cranial floor. Surrounds the foramen magnum. Bears paired occipital condyles inferiorly.
02What articulates with the occipital condyles?+
The superior articular facets of the atlas, forming the atlanto-occipital joints.
03What movement is associated with these joints?+
Primarily flexion and extension of the head, as in nodding.
Read the references.
Credited anatomical plates, microscopy and university teaching references. Individual image credits appear below the viewer. Historical plates can use older terminology; use the lesson text for current names.