Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Occipitofrontalis

The only skeletal muscle of the scalp: paired frontal and occipital bellies joined by the epicranial aponeurosis.

Key points

• Occipital belly (highest nuchal line) + frontal belly (eyebrow skin) → epicranial aponeurosis.
• Facial nerve.
• Moves the scalp; raises the eyebrows.
• From the second (hyoid) pharyngeal arch → facial nerve.
• Skeletal muscle: multinucleated, peripheral nuclei, striated.
• Epimysium → perimysium → endomysium.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Origin · Insertion · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1517–1519, 1538
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 9, PDF pp. 120, 122, 125
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 8, PDF pp. 135–144

More from the head and neck

• Oculomotor nerve
• Olfactory nerve
• Omohyoid
• Ophthalmic artery
• Ophthalmic nerve
• Ophthalmic veins
• Optic nerve
• Orbicularis oculi
• Orbicularis oris
• Palate
• Palatine tonsil
• Palatopharyngeus

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