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.
Comment:
[homology-note] "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]" xsd:string {date_retrieved="2012-09-17", external_class="VHOG:0000330", ontology="VHOG", source="DOI:10.1002/dvdy.20207 Boekhoff-Falk G, Hearing in Drosophila: Development of Johnston's organ and emerging parallels to vertebrate ear development. Developmental Dynamics (2005)", source="http://bgee.unil.ch/"}