lateral pterygoid muscle in dogs

Pharyngeal arch 1 muscle that participates in oral/pharyngeal behaviors, is innervated by the lateral pterygoid nerve branches, and attaches to the condylar process of the mandible and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) capsule, and the cranial base. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the lateral pterygoid muscle is

Pharyngeal arch 1 muscle that participates in oral/pharyngeal behaviors, is innervated by the lateral pterygoid nerve branches, and attaches to the condylar process of the mandible and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) capsule, and the cranial base. The atlas records it as a muscle at the organ scale in the dog.

Where the lateral pterygoid muscle is

It sits in the head, within the muscular system. Only the region is known. The position shown is somewhere plausible inside it and nothing more.

What the lateral pterygoid muscle connects to

The atlas records 6 typed relationships for it, across 5 kinds of connection. a kind of masticatory muscle.

Supply and innervation

Innervation: mandibular nerve.

Also called

Also recorded as pterygoid lateralis, external pterygoid muscle, lateral pteregoid, lateral pteregoid muscle, lateral pterygoid and m. pterygoideus externus, and 8 more. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0006719, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• A kind of: masticatory muscle.
• Attaches to: basicranium and mandible condylar process.
• Innervated by: mandibular nerve.
• inserts into: mandible condylar process.
• originates from: sphenoid bone pterygoid process.

Questions

Where is the lateral pterygoid muscle?

It sits in the head, within the muscular system. Only the region is known. The position shown is somewhere plausible inside it and nothing more.

What does the lateral pterygoid muscle connect to?

A kind of: masticatory muscle.

Is the lateral pterygoid muscle the same in other species?

This page describes the dog. The human record of the same structure sits beside it on /compare, over one shared model rather than two atlases built separately.