part of part of in lateral side of in taxon contributes to morphology of Tetrapoda Phocidae head subdivision of head ear external ear http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Gray907.png UMLS:C0013453 MA:0000258 outer ear Wikipedia:External_ear UMLS:C1269548 GAID:104 BTO:0002100 FMA:52781 auris externa 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] EV:0100354 MIAA:0000147 EFO:0004221 MESH:D004431 XAO:0000190 UBERON:0001691 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] EMAPA:16991 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]. SCTID:420893000 VHOG:0000311 NCIT:C12292 in XAO this includes and is only the tympanum EHDAA2:0000462 AAO:0011037 EHDAA:3786 BIRNLEX:1705 auricular region of head MAT:0000147 auricular region lateral structure