0 relating to the sphenoid (= a bone in the lower part of the skull) and the palate (= the top part of the inside of the mouth)
It is the indented area medial to the pterygomaxillary fissure leading into the sphenopalatine foramen.
It exits into the nasal cavity to supply posterior ethmoidal cells and nasal septum; here it anastomoses with the sphenopalatine artery.
Their development and form are variable between and within species, and features of the sphenopalatine vacuities have been used as characters in cladistic analyses.
It carries postsynaptic sympathetic nerve fibers to the pterygopalatine ganglion, also known as the sphenopalatine ganglion.
Crossing the under surface of the sphenoid, the sphenopalatine artery ends on the nasal septum as the posterior septal branches.
The sphenopalatine vacuities (openings in the roof of the mesopterygoid fossa, behind the palate) are also small, as are the auditory bullae.
Sphenopalatine vacuities are usually absent, but have been reported in some populations.
Most of their fibers are derived from the sphenopalatine branches of the maxillary nerve.
