The bone at the lower, posterior part of the skull.
Comment:
[taxon-note] "formed from the sclerotome of the occipital somites. It is not present in living or fossil agnathans or cartilaginous fishes, but appears to have arisen in parallel in many bony fishes. Incorporation of the occipital ver- tebrae into the skull was associated with the annexation of the upper part of the spinal cord into the brain, together with the first 2 spinal nerves as cranial nerves XI and XII" xsd:string {source="PMID:11523816"}; [taxon-note] "fusion of basi-, exo- and supra-occipitals (and maybe tabular)" xsd:string {source="Kardong"}
Synonyms:
related_synonym:
occipital complex; occipital squama; os occipitale