Terminology Service for NFDI4Health
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external ear

Go to external page http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0001691

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://amigo.geneontology.org/amigo/term/GO:0042473 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_ear ]

Term info

Label

external ear

Synonyms
  • auricular region of head
  • outer ear
database cross reference
Subsets

uberon_slim, efo_slim, pheno_slim

depicted by

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Gray907.png

external definition

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]

external ontology notes

in XAO this includes and is only the tympanum

has broad synonym

auricular region

has related synonym

auris externa

homology notes

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]

id

UBERON:0001691