A paired bone forming part of the palate of many vertebrates
Skull diagram of Champsosaurus , showing the pterygoid bone in red-violet (visible in inferior view at lower right and posterior to the ectopterygoid bone in lateral view at top)
The pterygoid is a paired bone forming part of the palate of many vertebrates , behind the palatine bones .[ 1]
It is a flat and thin lamina, united to the medial side of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone, and to the perpendicular lamina of the palatine bone.[ 2]
References
Parentheses denote bones that receive a different name in particular clades
Italics denote neomorphic bones present only in particular clades