Digastric at a glance
- What it is
- A two-bellied muscle above the hyoid bone linking the mandible and the mastoid region.
- Location
- Posterior belly arises from the mastoid notch of the temporal bone, anterior belly from the digastric fossa of the mandible; both join an intermediate tendon attached to the hyoid.
- Function
- Depresses the mandible (opens the mouth) and elevates the hyoid bone.
- Body system
- Muscular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA46293 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Innervation: anterior belly by the mylohyoid nerve (CN V3), posterior belly by the facial nerve (CN VII)
- The intermediate tendon passes through a fibrous sling on the hyoid and usually pierces stylohyoid.
- The two bellies have different embryological origins: the anterior from the first pharyngeal arch (hence CN V3) and the posterior from the second (hence CN VII).
- The two bellies and the lower border of the mandible bound the submandibular (digastric) triangle, which contains the submandibular gland.
Structures next to the digastric
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Stylohyoid · muscular
- Stylohyoid ligament · skeletal
- Pterygomandibular raphe · muscular
- Superior pharyngeal constrictor · muscular
- Stylopharyngeus · muscular
- Submandibular gland · digestive
- Middle pharyngeal constrictor · muscular
- Lower second secondary molar tooth · digestive
- Levator veli palatini · muscular
- Internal carotid artery · cardiovascular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Digastric (FMA46293). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §11.2 Naming Skeletal Muscles. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.