Every bone, landmark and count from a first anatomy course: skull, spine, rib cage, limbs, carpals and tarsals. Flashcards, matching and a typed quiz. Free in your browser, no sign-up.
Subject: biology
Counts: tap the matching pairs
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Counts
Counts: tap the matching pairs
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Counts
Cranial bones: tap the matching pairs
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Cranial bones
Facial bones: tap the matching pairs
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Facial bones
Facial bones: tap the matching pairs
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Facial bones
Skull landmarks: tap the matching pairs
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Skull landmarks
Skull landmarks: tap the matching pairs
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Skull landmarks
Middle ear and neck: tap the matching pairs
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Middle ear and neck
Vertebral column: tap the matching pairs
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Vertebral column
Vertebral column: tap the matching pairs
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Vertebral column
Thoracic cage: tap the matching pairs
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Thoracic cage
Thoracic cage: tap the matching pairs
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Thoracic cage
Shoulder and arm: tap the matching pairs
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Shoulder and arm
Shoulder and arm: tap the matching pairs
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Shoulder and arm
Carpal bones: tap the matching pairs
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Carpal bones
Carpal bones: tap the matching pairs
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Carpal bones
Pelvis and thigh: tap the matching pairs
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Pelvis and thigh
Pelvis and thigh: tap the matching pairs
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Pelvis and thigh
Leg and ankle: tap the matching pairs
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Leg and ankle
Leg and ankle: tap the matching pairs
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Leg and ankle
Tarsal bones: tap the matching pairs
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Tarsal bones
Tarsal bones: tap the matching pairs
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Tarsal bones
Bone shapes: tap the matching pairs
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Bone shapes
Which crescent shaped carpal bone sits next to the scaphoid in the proximal row?
Answer: Lunate
Lunate. The most commonly dislocated carpal bone.
The skull has _____ bones: 8 cranial and 14 facial.
Answer: 22
22. 8 cranial bones enclose the brain and 14 facial bones form the face.
What is the large bump on the outer top of the femur where the gluteal muscles attach?
Answer: Greater trochanter
Greater trochanter. You can feel it on the side of the hip. The lesser trochanter, on the inner side, takes the iliopsoas.
What is the saddle shaped depression in the sphenoid bone that holds the pituitary gland?
Answer: Sella turcica
Sella turcica. The name is Latin for Turkish saddle.
Which cube shaped tarsal bone sits in front of the calcaneus on the outer side of the foot?
Answer: Cuboid
Cuboid. It supports the fourth and fifth metatarsals.
There are _____ thoracic vertebrae, one for each pair of ribs.
Answer: 12
12. Each thoracic vertebra carries facets for a pair of ribs, so there are also 12 pairs of ribs.
Which part of the hip bone forms the front of the pelvis and meets its partner at the midline?
Answer: Pubis
Pubis. The two pubic bones meet at the pubic symphysis, a fibrocartilage joint.
The sternum, the ribs, and the bones of the skull vault are _____ bones.
Answer: Flat
Flat bone. Skull vault bones, sternum, ribs, and scapula. Flat bones hold much of the red marrow in adults.
The sternum has three parts: the _____ at the top, the body, and the xiphoid process at the bottom.
Answer: Manubrium
Manubrium. It articulates with the clavicles and the first ribs.
The femur, humerus, and phalanges are all classified as _____ bones.
Answer: Long
Long bone. Femur, humerus, tibia, and also the phalanges, because shape decides the class, not length.
The adult human skeleton has _____ bones.
Answer: 206
206. A newborn has about 270. Separate pieces fuse during growth, for example the five sacral vertebrae into the sacrum.
The thin lateral bone of the lower leg, which bears almost no weight, is the _____.
Answer: Fibula
Fibula. It anchors muscles and stabilizes the ankle.
A fall on an outstretched hand and pain in the anatomical snuffbox point to a fracture of the _____.
Answer: Scaphoid
Scaphoid. Proximal row, thumb side. It heals badly because its blood supply enters at the far end.
The only bone that articulates with no other bone is the _____, in the neck.
Answer: Hyoid bone
Hyoid bone. It hangs in the neck from the skull by ligaments and anchors the tongue. It is part of the axial skeleton.
The appendicular skeleton, the limbs and the girdles that attach them, has _____ bones.
Answer: 126
126. Two pectoral girdles 4, upper limbs 60, pelvic girdle 2, lower limbs 60.
The cribriform plate, which the olfactory nerve fibers pass through, belongs to the _____ bone.
Answer: Ethmoid
Ethmoid bone. Olfactory nerve fibers pass through the holes in its cribriform plate.
What structure of fibrocartilage sits between the vertebral bodies from C2 down to the sacrum?
Answer: Intervertebral disc
Intervertebral disc. A tough outer anulus fibrosus around a gel core, the nucleus pulposus.
Which paired cranial bones form the sides and roof of the cranium?
Answer: Parietal bone
Parietal bone. The sagittal suture runs between the two parietal bones.
Which paired facial bones form the back part of the hard palate?
Answer: Palatine bone
Palatine bone. The front part of the hard palate is formed by the maxillae.
The medial forearm bone, on the little finger side, is the _____.
Answer: Ulna
Ulna. Its trochlear notch hinges on the humerus.
Which three cornered carpal bone lies on the little finger side of the proximal row?
Answer: Triquetrum
Triquetrum. The pisiform sits on its front surface.
Which bone is the shoulder blade?
Answer: Scapula
Scapula. Its glenoid cavity receives the head of the humerus. The acromion and coracoid process project above the joint.
Which paired facial bone forms the prominence of the cheek?
Answer: Zygomatic bone
Zygomatic bone. Its arch with the temporal bone is the zygomatic arch you can feel below the eye.
What is the bony bump behind the ear, on the temporal bone, that the sternocleidomastoid attaches to?
Answer: Mastoid process
Mastoid process. It contains air cells that connect to the middle ear.
The largest carpal bone, in the centre of the wrist, is the _____.
Answer: Capitate
Capitate. It supports the third metacarpal and ossifies first.
The heel bone, the largest tarsal, is the _____.
Answer: Calcaneus
Calcaneus. The Achilles tendon inserts on its back surface.
What are the five long bones of the palm between the carpals and the fingers called?
Answer: Metacarpal bone
Metacarpal bone. Numbered 1 (thumb) to 5 (little finger). A boxer's fracture breaks the neck of the fifth.
The lateral forearm bone, on the thumb side, is the _____.
Answer: Radius
Radius. It rotates around the ulna in pronation and supination and does most of the work at the wrist.
The frontal bone meets the two parietal bones at the _____ suture.
Answer: Coronal suture
Coronal suture. It runs across the top of the head from ear to ear.
Which paired facial bones form the bridge of the nose?
Answer: Nasal bone
Nasal bone. Two small rectangular bones; the rest of the external nose is cartilage.
Which is the smallest of the three cuneiform bones, sitting between the medial and lateral ones?
Answer: Intermediate cuneiform
Intermediate cuneiform. It supports the second metatarsal.
Which cuneiform bone lies next to the cuboid and supports the third metatarsal?
Answer: Lateral cuneiform
Lateral cuneiform. Outermost of the three wedge shaped bones.
What is the shallow socket on the scapula that receives the head of the humerus?
Answer: Glenoid cavity
Glenoid cavity. Its shallowness gives the shoulder its range and its tendency to dislocate.
In a herniated disc, the gel core, the _____, pushes through the outer ring.
Answer: Nucleus pulposus
Nucleus pulposus. A herniated disc is the nucleus pulposus pushing through the anulus fibrosus, most often at L4 to L5 or L5 to S1.
Which auditory ossicle sits in the middle of the chain, between the malleus and the stapes?
Answer: Incus
Incus. Its name means anvil.
Ribs 1 to 7, which reach the sternum by their own costal cartilage, are the _____.
Answer: True ribs
True ribs. Seven pairs. All 12 pairs attach to thoracic vertebrae at the back.
Which is the largest of the three cuneiform bones, articulating with the first metatarsal?
Answer: Medial cuneiform
Medial cuneiform. The three cuneiforms, medial, intermediate, and lateral, sit between the navicular and the first three metatarsals.
A bone that forms inside a tendon, like the patella, is a _____ bone.
Answer: Sesamoid
Sesamoid bone. The patella is the largest. The pisiform in the wrist is another.
The adult vertebral column has _____ bones, because the sacral and coccygeal vertebrae have fused.
Answer: 26
26. 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, plus the sacrum and the coccyx. A child has 33 vertebrae before the sacral and coccygeal ones fuse.
One wrist has _____ carpal bones, arranged in two rows of four.
Answer: 8
8. Two rows of four: scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform, then trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate.
What are ribs 8 to 12 called, the ones that do not reach the sternum by their own cartilage?
Answer: False ribs
False ribs. Ribs 8 to 10 join the cartilage of the rib above; ribs 11 and 12 have no front attachment at all.
What is the hook shaped process of the scapula below the clavicle that muscles of the arm attach to?
Answer: Coracoid process
Coracoid process. The short head of the biceps and the pectoralis minor attach here.
The first cervical vertebra, a ring with no body that supports the skull, is the _____.
Answer: Atlas
Atlas. Nodding "yes" happens at the joint between the occipital condyles and the atlas.
The two parietal bones meet along the midline at the _____ suture.
Answer: Sagittal suture
Sagittal suture. It runs from the coronal suture back to the lambdoid suture.
The mastoid process and the external acoustic meatus belong to the _____ bone.
Answer: Temporal
Temporal bone. It also holds the external acoustic meatus and houses the middle and inner ear.
What is the strip of hyaline cartilage that connects a rib to the sternum called?
Answer: Costal cartilage
Costal cartilage. It lets the rib cage flex during breathing.
What is the small pointed bottom part of the sternum called?
Answer: Xiphoid process
Xiphoid process. Cartilage in youth, it ossifies in adults. Hands go above it, not on it, in chest compressions.
There are _____ lumbar vertebrae, the largest vertebrae in the column.
Answer: 5
5. The lumbar vertebrae are the largest, because the load on the column increases downward.
What is the large opening in the base of the skull through which the spinal cord passes?
Answer: Foramen magnum
Foramen magnum. It lies in the occipital bone, flanked by the occipital condyles that rest on the atlas.
Which auditory ossicle is attached to the eardrum?
Answer: Malleus
Malleus. The three ossicles in order from the eardrum inward are malleus, incus, stapes.
Which bone shape is roughly cube shaped, like the carpals and tarsals?
Answer: Short bone
Short bone. Short bones are mostly spongy bone with a thin compact shell.
Which paired facial bone is the smallest bone of the face and lies in the medial wall of the orbit?
Answer: Lacrimal bone
Lacrimal bone. It carries a groove for the lacrimal sac, which drains tears into the nose.
Which paired facial bones form the upper jaw and hold the upper teeth?
Answer: Maxilla
Maxilla. They also form the front part of the hard palate and part of the floor of the orbit.
The bump on the outer side of the ankle, part of the fibula, is the _____.
Answer: Lateral malleolus
Lateral malleolus. It reaches lower than the medial malleolus, which is why ankles roll inward more easily.
The peg of the axis that the atlas rotates around is the _____, also called the odontoid process.
Answer: Dens
Dens. Also called the odontoid process, from the Latin for tooth.
The five sacral vertebrae fuse into one bone, the _____.
Answer: Sacrum
Sacrum. It forms the back wall of the pelvis and joins each hip bone at the sacroiliac joint.
Which small pea shaped carpal bone sits on the front of the triquetrum?
Answer: Pisiform
Pisiform. It is a sesamoid bone inside the tendon of the flexor carpi ulnaris.
Ribs 11 and 12, which have no anterior attachment at all, are the _____.
Answer: Floating ribs
Floating ribs. A subgroup of the false ribs, so there are 7 true and 5 false ribs, of which 2 float.
Which vertebra has the long spinous process that forms the first prominent bump at the base of the neck?
Answer: Vertebra prominens
Vertebra prominens. It is C7, the last cervical vertebra, and a landmark for counting vertebrae by touch.
The medial, weight bearing bone of the lower leg is the _____.
Answer: Tibia
Tibia. Its tuberosity below the knee takes the patellar ligament.
The second cervical vertebra, which carries the dens, is the _____.
Answer: Axis
Axis. Shaking the head "no" happens at the atlantoaxial joint.
What is the projection of the scapula that forms the tip of the shoulder and articulates with the clavicle?
Answer: Acromion
Acromion. The acromioclavicular joint sits here.
The largest sesamoid bone in the body, formed inside the quadriceps tendon, is the _____.
Answer: Patella
Patella. It forms inside the quadriceps tendon and protects the front of the knee.
What are the bones of the fingers and toes called?
Answer: Phalanges
Phalanges. Proximal, middle, and distal in each digit, except the thumb and big toe, which have no middle phalanx. They are long bones despite their size.
The foramen magnum, which the spinal cord passes through, is an opening in the _____ bone.
Answer: Occipital
Occipital bone. The spinal cord passes through its foramen magnum, and its occipital condyles rest on the atlas.
The point of the elbow is the _____, at the top of the ulna.
Answer: Olecranon
Olecranon. It is the top end of the ulna and fits into the olecranon fossa of the humerus when the arm is straight.
The axial skeleton, the bones along the central axis of the body, has _____ bones.
Answer: 80
80. Skull 22, auditory ossicles 6, hyoid 1, vertebral column 26, sternum 1, ribs 24.
The ridge where the manubrium meets the body of the sternum, at the level of the second rib, is the _____.
Answer: Sternal angle
Sternal angle. Clinicians find rib 2 here and count down from it.
The sella turcica, the saddle that holds the pituitary gland, is part of the _____ bone.
Answer: Sphenoid
Sphenoid bone. Its sella turcica cradles the pituitary gland.
The longest, heaviest, and strongest bone in the body is the _____.
Answer: Femur
Femur. A "broken hip" in an older adult is usually a fracture of the femoral neck.
The bump on the inner side of the ankle, part of the tibia, is the _____.
Answer: Medial malleolus
Medial malleolus. The two malleoli grip the talus like a wrench.
The only movable bone of the skull is the _____.
Answer: Mandible
Mandible. It holds the lower teeth and articulates with the temporal bone at its condylar process.
There are _____ cervical vertebrae in the neck, the same number in every mammal.
Answer: 7
7. Every mammal, including the giraffe, has seven. The cervical vertebrae are the smallest.
Which is the smallest carpal bone of the distal row, wedged between the trapezium and the capitate?
Answer: Trapezoid
Trapezoid. It supports the second metacarpal.
The base of the thumb metacarpal articulates with the _____, the first bone of the distal carpal row.
Answer: Trapezium
Trapezium. The saddle joint here gives the thumb its opposition.
Which cranial bone forms the forehead and the roof of the eye sockets?
Answer: Frontal bone
Frontal bone. It meets the two parietal bones at the coronal suture.
Cervical vertebrae are identified by the _____ in each transverse process, which the vertebral artery passes through.
Answer: Transverse foramen
Transverse foramen. The vertebral arteries run through these openings on their way to the brain.
Which paired facial bone forms a curved scroll on the side wall of the nasal cavity?
Answer: Inferior nasal concha
Inferior nasal concha. The superior and middle conchae are parts of the ethmoid, but the inferior concha is a separate bone.
The lower part of the bony nasal septum is formed by the _____.
Answer: Vomer
Vomer. The upper part of the bony septum is the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid.
Which carpal bone has a hook on its palmar surface?
Answer: Hamate
Hamate. Distal row, little finger side. The hook can fracture in golfers and racket players.
How many bones are there in one upper limb, from the humerus to the fingertips?
Answer: 30
30. Humerus, radius, ulna, 8 carpals, 5 metacarpals, 14 phalanges. The lower limb also has 30.
The parietal bones meet the occipital bone at the _____ suture.
Answer: Lambdoid suture
Lambdoid suture. Named for its shape, like the Greek letter lambda.
The tuberosity that bears your weight when you sit belongs to the _____.
Answer: Ischium
Ischium. The ischial tuberosity bears body weight when sitting and anchors the hamstrings.
Which bone forms from the fusion of the ilium, ischium, and pubis?
Answer: Hip bone
Hip bone. The three fuse in the teens at the acetabulum. Two hip bones plus the sacrum and coccyx form the pelvis.
What is the tough outer ring of an intervertebral disc called?
Answer: Anulus fibrosus
Anulus fibrosus. Layers of fibrocartilage that contain the nucleus pulposus.
What is the perforated plate of the ethmoid bone through which the olfactory nerve fibers pass?
Answer: Cribriform plate
Cribriform plate. Head trauma can shear the fibers as they cross it and abolish the sense of smell.
The smallest bone in the body is the _____, the innermost auditory ossicle.
Answer: Stapes
Stapes. It is the innermost auditory ossicle, and its footplate sits in the oval window of the inner ear.
Which boat shaped tarsal bone sits in front of the talus on the inner side of the foot?
Answer: Navicular
Navicular. It articulates with the three cuneiforms in front of it.
The most commonly fractured bone in the body, the collarbone, is the _____.
Answer: Clavicle
Clavicle. It is the most commonly fractured bone in the body.
The head of the femur sits in the _____, the socket of the hip bone.
Answer: Acetabulum
Acetabulum. All three parts of the hip bone meet here.
Which bone shape has a complex form that fits no other class, like the vertebrae and hip bone?
Answer: Irregular bone
Irregular bone. Vertebrae, hip bone, sphenoid.
How many phalanges are there in one hand?
Answer: 14
14. Three in each finger and two in the thumb, which has no middle phalanx. The foot also has 14, with two in the big toe.
What is the small bone at the bottom of the vertebral column, formed by three to five fused vertebrae?
Answer: Coccyx
Coccyx. Usually four fused vertebrae; the tailbone.
One foot has _____ tarsal bones: talus, calcaneus, navicular, cuboid, and three cuneiforms.
Answer: 7
7. Talus, calcaneus, navicular, cuboid, and the medial, intermediate, and lateral cuneiforms.
What are the five long bones of the foot between the tarsals and the toes called?
Answer: Metatarsal bone
Metatarsal bone. Numbered 1 (big toe) to 5. The fifth is the one most often fractured.
The tarsal bone that forms the ankle joint with the tibia and fibula is the _____.
Answer: Talus
Talus. It forms the ankle joint with the tibia and fibula and has no muscle attachments.
Which is the single bone of the upper arm?
Answer: Humerus
Humerus. Its head fits the glenoid cavity; its trochlea and capitulum form the elbow with the ulna and radius.
The ridge you feel at the waist is the crest of the _____.
Answer: Ilium
Ilium. The iliac crest is the ridge at the waist, and the ilium joins the sacrum at the sacroiliac joint.
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