Each pharyngeal arch has a cartilaginous stick, a muscle component which differentiates from the cartilaginous tissue, an artery, and a cranial nerve. Each of these is surrounded by mesenchyme. Arches do not develop simultaneously, but instead possess a "staggered" development.
The pouches line up with the clefts, and these thin segments become gills in fish.
In mammals the endoderm and ectoderm not only remain intact, but continue to be separated by a mesoderm layer.
More is known about the fate of the first arch than the remaining four. The first three contribute to structures above the larynx, while the last two contribute to the larynx and trachea.
{| class="wikitable"
| Pharyngeal arch || Muscular contributions || Skeletal contributions || Nerve || Artery
|-
| 1st (also called "mandibular arch") || Muscles of mastication, anterior belly of the digastric, mylohyoid, tensor tympani, tensor veli palatini || Maxilla, mandible (only as a model for mandible not actual formation of mandible), the incus and malleus of the middle ear, also Meckel's cartilage || Trigeminal nerve (V2 and V3) || Maxillary artery, external carotid artery
|-
| 2nd (also called the "hyoid arch") || Muscles of facial expression, buccinator, platysma, stapedius, stylohyoid, posterior belly of the digastric || Stapes, styloid process, hyoid (lesser horn and upper part of body), Reichert's cartilage || Facial nerve (VII) || Stapedial Artery
|-
| 3rd || Stylopharyngeus || Hyoid (greater horn and lower part of body), thymus || Glossopharyngeal nerve (IX) || Common carotid/Internal carotid
|-
| 4th || Cricothyroid muscle, all intrinsic muscles of soft palate including levator veli palatini || Thyroid cartilage, epiglottic cartilage|| Vagus nerve (X)
Superior laryngeal nerve || Right 4th aortic arch: subclavian artery
Left 4th aortic arch: aortic arch
|-
| 6th || All intrinsic muscles of larynx except the cricothyroid muscle || Cricoid cartilage, arytenoid cartilages, corniculate cartilage || Vagus nerve (X)
Recurrent laryngeal nerve || Right 6th aortic arch: pulmonary artery
Left 6th aortic arch: Pulmonary artery and ductus arteriosus
|}
Category:Vertebrate anatomy Category:embryology Category:Developmental biology
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