Part of the ear external to the tympanum (eardrum). It typically consists of a tube (the external auditory meatus) that directs sound waves on to the tympanum, and may also include the external pinna, which extends beyond the skull[GO]. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_ear http://amigo.geneontology.org/amigo/term/GO:0042473 ]
Synonyms: outer ear auricular region of head
Term information
- EHDAA:3786
- UMLS:C0013453 (ncithesaurus:External_Ear)
- EMAPA:16991
- MAT:0000147
- EHDAA2:0000462
- MIAA:0000147
- AAO:0011037
- NCIT:C12292
- BTO:0002100
- FMA:52781
- MESH:D004431
- VHOG:0000311
- SCTID:420893000
- XAO:0000190
- Wikipedia:External_ear
- EFO:0004221
- UMLS:C1269548 (BIRNLEX:1705)
- EV:0100354
- GAID:104
- BIRNLEX:1705
- MA:0000258
uberon_slim, efo_slim, pheno_slim
The external part of the organ, which consists of an outer portion (external auditory meatus) which leads to the tympanum. [Dorian_AF, Elsevier's_encyclopaedic_dictionary_of_medicine, Part_B:_Anatomy_(1988)_Amsterdam_etc.:_Elsevier][VHOG]
Some species, like Amolops tormotus (Feng et al. 2006), have a cavity in front of the tympanic membrane which is considered to be an ear canal and thus an outer ear. (...) The ancestral lineage of amphibians separated from the mammalian lineage, approximately 350 million years ago, in the paleozoic era. Many of the important developments in the auditory systems emerged after the ancestral paths separated (Manley and Clack 2003). This implies that shared features, like the tympanic middle ear, developed independently in different vertebrate lineages.[uncertain][VHOG]
Term relations
- lateral structure
- subdivision of head
- contributes to morphology of some ear
- in lateral side of some head
- part of some ear
- only in taxon some Tetrapoda
- contributes to morphology of some head