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Glite Dictionary
🦴 Above the skull bone 🦴 A skull bone
supraoccipital

supraoccipital

9.9
On the upper rear part of the skull
  • adjective
  • /ˌsuːprəʊˈɒksɪpɪtəl/
  • Specialized
: supraoccipital
  • The skull of the fish displayed a distinct supraoccipital region, contributing to its unique shape.

Examples

  • The anatomy of the bird's head revealed a prominent supraoccipital bone above the occipital area.

  • Researchers studied the supraoccipital area to understand how it affects the overall structure of the skull.

  • In the case of P. saltatrix and T. lepturus, the sizes of the mandibles and maxillae, as well as the supraoccipital bone, were also considered. The rostral length and hood length of the beaks were used to estimate the size and mass of cephalopods.

    Academic text (2018)

Surface Forms

supraoccipital positive

Morphology

supraoccipital = occipital (semi-transparent) = supra + occipital

The meaning is compositionally 'supra-' (above) + 'occipital', but both elements are specialized anatomical terms so the form-meaning mapping may not be obvious to general learners.

Etymology

Supraoccipital comes from the parts supra- 'above' and occipital 'back of the head', so it describes something that lies 'above the back of the skull' at the upper rear of the head.