Branchiomeric muscles are striated muscle

Striated muscle

Striated muscle tissue is a form of fibers that are combined into parallel fibers. More specifically, it can refer to:* Cardiac muscle .* Skeletal muscle* Branchiomeric muscles...

s of the head and neck. Unlike skeletal muscles that developmentally come from somites, branchiomeric muscles are developmentally formed from the branchial arches.

Most of the skeletal musculature supplied by the cranial nerves (special visceral efferent

Special visceral efferent

Special visceral efferent refers to efferent nerves which supply muscles which derived from the branchial arches.Some sources prefer the term "branchiomotor", or "branchial efferent"....

) is branchiomeric. Exceptions include, but are not limited to, the extraocular muscles

Extraocular muscles

The extraocular muscles are the six muscles that control the movements of the eye . The actions of the extraocular muscles depend on the position of the eye at the time of muscle contraction.-List of muscles:-Importance:...

 and some of the muscles of the tongue. These exceptions receive general somatic efferent

General somatic efferent fibers

The *spinal* somatic efferent neurons , arise from motor neuron cell bodies in the ventral horns of the gray matter within the spinal cord...

 innervation.

First arch

All of the branchiomeric muscles that come from the first branchial arch are innervated by the trigeminal nerve

Trigeminal nerve

The trigeminal nerve contains both sensory and motor fibres. It is responsible for sensation in the face and certain motor functions such as biting, chewing, and swallowing. Sensory information from the face and body is processed by parallel pathways in the central nervous system...

. These muscles include all the muscles of mastication, the anterior belly of the digastric, the mylohyoid

Mylohyoid

Mylohyoid can refer to:* Mylohyoid muscle* Mylohyoid line* Mylohyoid nerve* Mylohyoid branch of inferior alveolar artery* Mylohyoid groove...

, tensor tympani

Tensor tympani

The tensor tympani, the larger of the two muscles of the tympanic cavity, is contained in the bony canal above the osseous portion of the auditory tube...

, and tensor veli palatini.

Second arch

All of the branchiomeric muscles of the second branchial arch are innervated by the facial nerve

Facial nerve

The facial nerve is the seventh of twelve paired cranial nerves. It emerges from the brainstem between the pons and the medulla, and controls the muscles of facial expression, and functions in the conveyance of taste sensations from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue and oral cavity...

. These muscles include the muscles of facial expression

Facial muscles

The facial muscles are a group of striated muscles innervated by the facial nerve that, among other things, control facial expression. These muscles are also called mimetic muscles.-Structure:...

, the posterior belly of the digastric, stylohyoid muscle, and the stapedius

Stapedius

The stapedius is the smallest skeletal muscle in the human body. At just over one millimeter in length, its purpose is to stabilize the smallest bone in the body, the stapes....

 muscle of the middle ear.

Third arch

There is only one muscle of third branchial arch, the stylopharyngeus. The stylopharyngeus and other structures from the third brachial arch are all innervated by the glossopharyngeal nerve

Glossopharyngeal nerve

The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth of twelve pairs of cranial nerves . It exits the brainstem out from the sides of the upper medulla, just rostral to the vagus nerve...

.

Fourth & Sixth arches

All the brachial muscles of the fourth and sixth arches are innervated by the vagus nerve

Vagus nerve

The vagus nerve , also called pneumogastric nerve or cranial nerve X, is the tenth of twelve paired cranial nerves...

. These muscles include all the muscles of the palate (exception of the tensor veli palatini which is innervated by the trigeminal nerve

Trigeminal nerve

The trigeminal nerve contains both sensory and motor fibres. It is responsible for sensation in the face and certain motor functions such as biting, chewing, and swallowing. Sensory information from the face and body is processed by parallel pathways in the central nervous system...

), all the muscles of the pharynx (except stylopharyngeus which is innervated by the glossopharyngeal nerve

Glossopharyngeal nerve

The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth of twelve pairs of cranial nerves . It exits the brainstem out from the sides of the upper medulla, just rostral to the vagus nerve...

, and all the muscles of the larynx.