Styloglossus

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title: "Styloglossus" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["muscles-of-the-head-and-neck", "tongue"] description: "Tongue muscle" topic_path: "general/muscles-of-the-head-and-neck" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Styloglossus" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Tongue muscle ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox muscle"]

Field	Value
Name	Styloglossus
Latin	musculus styloglossus
Image	Styloglossus.png
Caption	Extrinsic muscles of the tongue. Left side. (Styloglossus XII visible at center top.)
Image2	Gray1020.png
Caption2	Coronal section of tongue, showing intrinsic muscles. (Styloglossus labeled at center left.)
Origin	Styloid process of temporal bone
Insertion	Tip and sides of tongue
Action	Retraction and elevation of tongue
Blood	Sublingual branch of the lingual artery
Nerve	Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII)
::

| Name = Styloglossus | Latin = musculus styloglossus | Image = Styloglossus.png | Caption = Extrinsic muscles of the tongue. Left side. (Styloglossus XII visible at center top.) | Image2 = Gray1020.png | Caption2 = Coronal section of tongue, showing intrinsic muscles. (Styloglossus labeled at center left.) | Origin = Styloid process of temporal bone | Insertion = Tip and sides of tongue | Action = Retraction and elevation of tongue | Blood = Sublingual branch of the lingual artery | Nerve = Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII) The styloglossus muscle is a bilaterally paired muscle of the tongue. It originates at the styloid process of the temporal bone. It inserts onto the side of the tongue. It acts to elevate and retract the tongue. It is innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (cranial nerve XII).

Anatomy

The styloglossus muscle is the shortest and smallest of the three styloid muscles.

Origin

It arises from (the anterior and lateral surfaces of) the styloid process of the temporal bone near its apex, and from the stylomandibular ligament.

Course and relations

It passes anterioinferiorly from its origin to its insertion between the internal carotid artery and the external carotid artery, and between the superior pharyngeal constrictor muscle and the middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle.

Insertion

It divides upon the side of the tongue near the dorsal surface of the tongue, blending with the fibers of the longitudinalis inferior muscle anterior to the hyoglossus muscle.

Innervation

The styloglossus is innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (CN XII) (like all muscles of the tongue except palatoglossus which is innervated by the pharyngeal plexus of vagus nerve (CN X)).

Function

The styloglossus draws up the sides of the tongue to create a trough for swallowing. Acting bilaterally (both styloglossus muscles contracting simultaneously) they also aid in retracting the tongue.

Additional images

Image:Gray137.png|Left temporal bone. Outer surface. Image:Gray386.png|Muscles of the neck. Anterior view. Image:Gray513.png|The internal carotid and vertebral arteries. Right side. Image:Gray793.png|Course and distribution of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves. Image:Gray794.png|Hypoglossal nerve, cervical plexus, and their branches. File:Slide8aaa.JPG|Styloglossus muscle File:Slide7ggg.JPG|Styloglossus muscle File:Slide7hhh.JPG|Styloglossus muscle File:Slide14lll.JPG|Styloglossus muscle

References

References

1. Morton, David A.. (2019). "The Big Picture: Gross Anatomy".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::