Structure
The stylopharyngeus is a long, slender muscle, cylindrical above, flattened below. It arises from the medial side of the base of the styloid process, passes downward along the side of the pharynx between the superior pharyngeal constrictor and the middle pharyngeal constrictor, and spreads out beneath the mucous membrane.
Some of its fibers are lost in the constrictor muscles while others, joining the palatopharyngeus muscle, are inserted into the posterior border of the thyroid cartilage.
The glossopharyngeal nerve runs on the lateral side of this muscle, and crosses over it to reach the tongue.
Read more about this topic: Stylopharyngeus Muscle
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—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)