stylomastoid foramen

Distal to stylomastoid foramen, the following nerves branch off the facial nerve:

With the development of the air cells the outer part of the mastoid portion grows downward and forward to form the mastoid process, and the styloid process and stylomastoid foramen now come to lie on the under surface.

They have a relatively small skull, with a large external auditory meatus, narrow squamosal and mandibular processes, no foramina in the anterodorsal nasopharynx, a minuscule stylomastoid foramen, and they usually lack foramina for the external carotid artery.