part of part of capable of capable of detection of mechanical stimulus involved in sensory perception of sound sense organ head ear http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Ear.jpg auris MAT:0000138 auditory apparatus VHOG:0000330 MIAA:0000138 UMLS:C0013443 AAO:0011014 NCIT:C12394 EHDAA2:0000423 Sense organ in vertebrates that is specialized for the detection of sound, and the maintenance of balance. Includes the outer ear and middle ear, which collect and transmit sound waves; and the inner ear, which contains the organs of balance and (except in fish) hearing. Also includes the pinna, the visible part of the outer ear, present in some mammals. GAID:62 auricular MESH:D004423 Both vertebrate and invertebrate auditory organs are thought to have evolved from primitive mechanosensors, but the nature of the ancestral structure and the evolutionary trajectories followed in distinct animal lineages remain unknown. In particular, we do not know how many types of mechanosensor existed in the protostome-deuterostome ancestor from which insects and vertebrates evolved or whether the PDA had an auditory organ.[well established][VHOG] UMLS:C0521421 FMA:52780 XAO:0000189 BIRNLEX:1062 EV:0100353 MA:0000236 galen:Ear BTO:0000368 SCTID:1910005 Wikipedia:Ear EHDAA:502 EFO:0000826 EMAPA:16193 UBERON:0001690 CALOHA:TS-1165 The organ of hearing and of equilibrium. [TFD][VHOG] vestibulo-auditory system structure with developmental contribution from neural crest