Morphology of the Head and Neck of the Macaque Monkey: the Muscles of Mastication and the Mandibular Division of the Trigeminal Nerve.

Today young Rhesus monkeys, especially Macaca mulatta, are widely used for dental and medical research, and there is no doubt that they will be used even more in the future. Certain regions or systems of this animal-brain, spinal cord, extremity musculafture-have been adequately described, whereas only a meager amount of information has been written about the detailed anatomy of the head, neck, torso, and most of the neurovascular systems of the extremities. In the head and neck, experimental procedures have been carried out, with little being said about the "normal" anatomy of the animal. However, the most concise work on the Rhesus monkey, by Hartman and Strauss,' has been used as the standard reference text by many. Most reports on the anatomy of laboratory animals lack morphologic detail, are superficial in their coverage, sketchy in their descriptions, or even incorrect. Many of the descriptions appear to have been based on only a few specimens. Since anatomical details on the Macaque are noticeably lacking, it is our intent to review its morphology in detail, beginning with the craniofacial area.