masticatory muscle

In humans: Muscles arising in the zygomatic arch that close the jaw. Their nerve supply is masseteric from the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve. (From Stedman, 25th ed). Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the masticatory muscle is

In humans: Muscles arising in the zygomatic arch that close the jaw. Their nerve supply is masseteric from the mandibular division of the trigeminal nerve. (From Stedman, 25th ed). The atlas records it as a muscle at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the masticatory muscle is

It sits in the head, within the muscular system. Not positioned individually, and containment is not asserted either. Drawn near structures of the same kind, which is a weak claim about location.

What the masticatory muscle connects to

The atlas records 9 typed relationships for it, across 5 kinds of connection. a kind of cranial muscle and muscle organ.

Supply and innervation

Innervation: mandibular nerve.

Also called

Also recorded as muscle of mastication, jaw muscle and musculi masticatorii. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0003681, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• A kind of: cranial muscle and muscle organ.
• subtype: lateral pterygoid muscle, masseter muscle, medial pterygoid muscle and temporalis muscle.
• composed of: skeletal muscle tissue.
• Develops from: pharyngeal arch 1.
• Innervated by: mandibular nerve.

Questions

Where is the masticatory muscle?

It sits in the head, within the muscular system. Not positioned individually, and containment is not asserted either. Drawn near structures of the same kind, which is a weak claim about location.

What does the masticatory muscle connect to?

A kind of: cranial muscle and muscle organ.

Is the masticatory muscle the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.