Comparative study of the digastric and the stylohyoid muscles between wild boars (Sus scrofa scrofa) and domestic swine (Sus scrofa domesticus): revisiting the gross anatomy

Considering Suidae Familie as a perfect and viable experimental biomedical model for research applied to human medicine, it has been sought to describe the comparative anatomy of the digastric and the stylohyoid muscles between boars and domestic swine. Heads of Sus scrofa scrofa and Sus scrofa domesticus were dissected. The digastric muscle presented only one muscle belly as anatomical component of a tendinous origin in the jugular process of the occipital bone, and muscle insertion in the midventral edge of the caudal two thirds of the body of the mandible. Thus, its function is fundamentally associated with the lowering and the retracting of the mandible which, by the way, can deliver greater muscle power at lesser energy expense. For the stylohyoid muscle, the tendinous origin was in the laterocaudal edge of the dorsal third of the stylohyoid bone. The muscle insertion - primarily, was in the lateral and caudal edges from the mid third portion up to the ventral extremity of the thyrohyoid bone, and secondarily as a laterolateral aponeurotic blade which would unite, in a bilateral manner, an insertion that was common to the sternohyoid, the geniohyoid, and the mylohyoid muscles in a median ventral region. This morphology were similar to the two specimens studied expanding the information available, which were completely unknown for the suidae until the moment.