[TA] a passage or fissure between the petrous portion of the temporal bone and the jugular process of the occipital bone, sometimes divided into two by the intrajugular processes; it contains the junction of the sigmoid sinus with the internal jugular vein, the inferior petrosal sinus, the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves, and the meningeal branches of the ascending pharyngeal and occipital arteries. SYN: foramen jugulare [TA], foramen lacerum posterius.